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KANSAS: 



ITS 



INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR LIFE 



INCLUDING 



! A FULL VIEW OF ITS SETTLEMENT, POLITICAL HISTOET, 

i SOCIAL LIFE, CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUCTION'S, 

^ SCENEEY, ETC. 



\r£,. SARA t:\K"robinson. 



IGHTH EDITION. 



BOSTON: 
CEOSBY, NICHOLS AND COMPANY. 

CINCINNATI: GEORGE S. BLANCHAPtD. 
LONDON : SAMPSON LOW, SON & CO. 

1857. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

CROSBY, NICHOLS & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Com-t of the District of Massachusetts. 



'JXciij^ .V U^ ^J<jUu\0 






stereotyped by 
EOBART & ROBBINS, 

irew ENGLAND TTPB ANI> BTKREOTYPE lOUNDKBT, 
BOSTON. 



PEE FACE. 



This work, now offered to the public, has been written amid 
all the inconveniences of tent life. Its pages were penned 
during a three months' residence of the authoress in the United 
States Camp, at Lecompton, with her husband, one of the state 
prisoners. 

If a bitterness against the " powers that be " betrays itself, 
let the continual clanking of sabres, and the deafening sound 
of heavy artillery in the daily drills of the soldiery, aids in 
crushing freemen in Kansas, — the outrages hourly committed 
upon peaceable and unarmed men, — the daily news of some 
friend made prisoner, or butchered with a malignity more than 
human, — the devastation of burning homes, by the connivance 
of the Governor, under the eye of the troops, and no power 
given them to save an oppressed people, — be placed in the 
balance against a severe judgment. 

If the simple recital serves to strengthen in any the love 
of liberty, or to arouse in others a hatred to tyranny, then will 
its mission have been accomplished. 

*' God give us Men ! A time like tliis demands 
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands ; 
Men whom the lust of office does not kill ; 
Men whom the spoUs of office cannot buy ; 



IV PREFACE. 

Men wlio possess opinion and a mil ; 

Men -who have honor, — men -who will not lie ; 
Men -^vlio can stand before a demagogue, 

And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking ! 
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog 

In public duty, and in private thinking ; 
For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds, 
Their large professions, and their little deeds, — 
Mingle in selfish strife, lo ! Freedom weeps. 
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps ! " 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. 



Great American Desert — Opening of California — Colonel Fremont's Route — 
Kansas — Scenery — Soil — Climate — Extent of the Missouri Compromise 
— Its Repeal — Blue Lodge — Meetings in Missouri, 1 

CHAPTER II. 

THE FIRST ELECTION AND FIRST INVASION. 

New England Aid Company — First Parties — Lawrence — First Election — 
Census — First Winter — Second Invasion — Protests — Meeting at Leaven- 
worth, 10 

CHAPTER III. 

EASTERN EMIGRATION BORDER MEN. 

Kansas City, Mo. — "Westport — Baptist Mission — Election-day — Threats 
Against Gov. Reeder — Members Elect of Legislature — Mission Church — 
Ride to Lawrence — Scenery, 34 

CHAPTER IV. 

LAWRENCE. 
Drives in the Country — Calls on Pioneers —First Attendance at Church, . 36 

CHAPTER V. 

KANSAS HOMES. 
Death of Mrs. T. — Scarcity of Provisions — Arrival of a Friend — A Gentle- 
man from Massachusetts — Silver Mist — City People in Kansas — Spider- 
wort — Company — Sabbath-School — Heavy Showers — Homes — Steamer — 
Election — Tour in the Country — Emigration — Visit to a Friend — Hard- 
ships of Settlers — Preaching on Capitol Hill — Death of Dr. Clark, . . 43 
1# 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

ILLS OP PIONEER LIFE. 

Cold Weather — Comiaunion — Cholera — Rattlesnakes — Sickness — Oppres- 
sion — A Night in an open House and heavy Shower — Morning Eide — 
Fourth of July — Pro-Slavery Rage — Visit at Dr. B.'s — Rumors of War — 
Assault upon Mr. C. — " Fish's " Company, 62 

CHAPTER VII. 

KANSAS LAWS GOV. SHANNON. 

Rains — Laws — Government Officials — Convention at Lawrence — Street 
Broils — Leavenworth Herald — Camp Meeting — Gov. Shannon — Hunga- 
rian Doctor — Gov. Shannon at Westport — Western Emigrants — Free 
Negro — Gov. Shannon Visits Lecompton — Delegate Convention at Topeka 

— Convention at Lawrence — Rumors of Invasion, 79 

CHAPTER VIII. 

GENEEAL DISCOMFORTS MURDER OF DOW. 

Prairie Fires — Cold — Constitutional Convention — Military Supper — Mr. C. 
ill — General Sickness — Returned Emigrants — Death of Dow — Branson 
Rescue — Meeting at Lawrence, 95 

CHAPTER IX. 

WAKARUSA WAR PREPARATIONS. 

Judge Lecompte at November Court — Grand Mass Convention at Leavenworth 

News from the Border — Woodson's Despatch — Reinforcements at LaAV- 

rence — Enemy's Camp — Missouri Despatches — Meeting at Lawrence — 
Gen. Clark shoots his Friend — Strong Defences will save Bloodshed — Mc- 
Crea's Escape, 112 

CHAPTER X. 

WAKARUSA WAR INCIDENTS. 

Gov. Shannon's Proclamation — " Sheriff Jones" at Lawrence — A Vermonter 

— Pro-Slavery Men leave Town — Our Men drilling — Guard fired upon 

— The Messrs. P. escape from Missourians — Western Neighbors — Messen- 
gers to Gov. Shannon — A Dream, 128 

CHAPTER XI. 

DEATH OF BARBER THE TREATY. 

Guard fired upon — Messengers taken Prisoners — Rescuers — Howitzer — 
Barber shot — Gov. Shannon's Pass — The Governor at Lawrence — Depreda- 



CONTENTS. VII 

tions — Terrible Night — Generals K. and L. visit Franklin — Dissatisfaction 
of the Invading Army — The Treaty — Dinner — Meeting at Council-Room 

— Rumor from the Camp — Commission of Generals R. and L. — Peace 
Party — Released Prisoners — Present Lull, 141 

CHAPTER XII. 

FUNERAL OP BARBER DEATH OF R. P. BROWN. 

Election for State Constitution — Affray at Leavenworth — Funeral of Barber 

— S. and T. taken to Lecompton — Convention at Lawrence — Severe 
Weather — Destitution — Outrage at Leavenworth — Kickapoo Pioneer — 
Little Boy — Clear Morning — Odd Sleighs — Attack at Easton — R. P. 
Brown killed — Men driven from their Homes — Death of Major Robinson 

— Ride after a Mule — New Plans of the Enemy — Kickapoo Pioneer — The 
Interposition of God — Provisions — A Winter to be remembered, . . 160 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE WINTER IN THE TERRITORY — STATE LEGISLATURE. 

Cabins in the Forts — Firing — Our People — Atchison's Letter — Settlers' 
Endurance. — The Probability of Attack — Indians — A Wedding — Eastern 
Newspapers — Correspondence of Gov. Shannon and Maj. Clark — Presi- 
dent's Message — The Twenty-second of February — River open — Legisla- 
ture — Rumors of Arrest — Religious Societies — Osawattomie — Hampden 

— Topeka — Wabousa — Manhattan — Council City — State 0£5cers — Sharpe's 
Rifles taken at Lexington — Corner-stone of Unitarian Church laid — Our 
House finished — Calls on Settlers — Receptions, 177 

CHAPTER XIV. 

COMMITTEE OF INVESTIGATION — " SHERIFF JONES " SHOT. 

April — Quiet — Emigration — Arrests — Committee of Investigation — Re- 
hearsal — "Sheriff Jones" shot — Meeting at Lawrence — Fugitive from 
Arrest — Incidents — The People indignant — Attempt to excite the Mis- 
sourians, 196 

CHAPTER XV. 

REDOUBLED EFFORTS FOR A NEW INVASION. 

May-party at Hotel — New Outrages — The Committee of Investigation at 
Tecumseh — Visit at Topeka — Big Springs — Washington — Incidents — 
Tecumseh — A Friend's Cabin — Boarding House — Buford's Men — Judge 
Lecompte's Charge to Grand Jury — A Writ of Attachment for Gov. Reeder — 
The Marshal's Proclamation — Pro-Slavery Letters — Continual Outrages 
upon Free-State Men in the Territory and in Missouri, 209 



VIII CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE ATTACK UPON LA WHENCE. 

Kumors of tlie tlireateued Attack — Letters to the Governor and Marshal, with 
their replies — Miller arrested — Gov. Shannon's Reply to the Messrs. 
Eldridge — Jones and Stewart killed — The Sacking of Lawrence, . . .229 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE " REIGN OF TERROR " IN KANSAS. 

Robberies between Lawrence and Kansas City — The U. S. Mail Searched — 
"Eeign of Terror" at Leavenworth — Dr. R. and Mr. M. taken Prisoners — 
Marshal Donaldson's Pass — Officers in the Invaders' Camp — Gov. Shannon 

— Outrages, 219 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

AUREST OF G. JENKINS AND G. W. BROWN — ARREST OP GOVERNOR 
ROBINSON. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

EXCITEMENT IN MISSOURI OUTRAGES IN THE TERRITORY. 

Trip up the River — Excitement at Kansas City — Battle at Prairie City — ■ 
Missourians driven out — Sack of Osawattomie — Judge C. and Mr. C. 
ordered away from Lecompton — Attempted Arrest of Judge C. — Murder 
of Cantrell — Outrage upon Messrs. Bailey, Hill, Barlow, Rev. Mr. Webrter, 
and others, 273 

CHAPTER XX. 

TWO WEEKS IN JUNE ON THE MISSOURI BORDER. 

Pro-Slavery Men — Gov. Robinson's Guard — Gov. Shannon and Col. Sumner 

— The Investigating Committee — Westport and Kansas City — W. Donelson 

— Missouri "^V^omen — A furious Man — Leavenworth — Conversation of 
Western Women — Lawrence — Hopkins killed, 290 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE U. S. CAMP DISPERSION OF LEGISLATURE. 

Visit the Camp — Legate and Hoy t arrested — New Orders of Cramer — Emi- 
grants disarmed and sent back — Gay, the Indian Agent, killed — Bu- 
chanan Ratification Meeting — More Prisoners — Lecompton alarmed — 
Camp moved to protect it — Log Prison — Cheerfulness — " Law-and-order " 
Men — Barricades — Dispersion of Legislature, 300 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER XXII. 

" LAW-AND-ORDER " MEN — FREE-STATE MEN AROUSED. 

Discomforts — More Emigrants turned back — The President dumb — Moved 
Camp again — Gen. Smith — Gov. and Mrs. Shannon — Col. Titus — W. P. 
Fain — Heavy Showers — Efforts to diminish the Comfort of the Prisoners 

— Perkins assaulted — Mr. Wilson — Concert — Preaching — " Law-and- 
order" Men in Conclave — Gov. Shannon removed — Southerners build 
Forts — Destruction of Fort on Douglas Creek — Free-State Emigrants 
arrived — Battle at Franklin — Murder of Hoyt — Destruction of Fort on 
Washington Creek, and of Titus' Stronghold — Panic at Lecompton — 
Treaty, 316 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

NEW INVASION RELEASE OF STATE PRISONERS. 

Murder of Ross — Outrage upon Free-State Lady — Woodson calls out Militia 

— New Intention to destroy Lawrence — Committee from Lawrence calls upon 
the Governor — More Troops from the Fort — Wagons taken near Leaven- 
worth — Mr. Nute and others taken Prisoners — Messrs. H. and S. retained 
at Lecompton — Eighty Troops go to Lawrence — Osawattomie destroyed — 
Missourians driven out — Houses burned — TJ. S. Marshal visits Lawrence 

— Men murdered — Free-State Army goes to Lecompton — Mob-law at 
Leavenworth — Release of Prisoners at Leavenworth — Gov. Geary arrived 

— Release of State Prisoners — Jubilee at Lawrence, 328 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

AN APPEAL TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 



APPENDIX 349 



KANSAS 



CHAPTEE I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Far away amid childhood's sunny vales, pleasant memories 
bring back to me a quiet New England village not far from the 
noble Connecticut's sparkling waters. Situated upon an eleva- 
tion, commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country 
in all directions, the Mt. Holyoke range upon the north-west, and 
Wilbraham mountains on the south, and being finely diversified 
with hill and dale, as an inland town its beauty of location can 
scarcely be equalled. The taste of its inhabitants was visible in 
the broad, finely shaded streets, and the long, wide common, where 
the whispering breezes toyed and laughed among the trees. Upon 
the eastern side of this beautiful green were the churches and 
town-hall, the lower rooms of which, for many years, had been 
used for school rooms ; and here, especially, memories of bygone 
days cluster, — memories of teachers and school friends long since 
passed away, others still living, few of whom I shall ever meet 
again. But most vividly of all comes before me the bright- 
colored map, in green, red and yellow, upon which I daily learned 
my lessons, as to our whereabouts, and that of mankind generally, 
upon the face of the old earth. Very many were my speculations 
as to the appearance of one part of the country, laid down upon 
the map as the Great American Desert. There was mystery to 
me in its semi-circular lines in fine letters, " Great American 
Desert, inhabited only by savages and wild beasts," and much 
1 



2 KANSAS. 

childish curiosity was excited thereby. Years came and went ; 
and with them came the increase of wealth and power to the 
American people, and the progress of the age. As California 
became a portion of her dominions, gold was found in the bed of 
her rivers, and in the bosom of her soil. Thousands flocked thither 
from the whole country. The young and ardent from the Atlantic 
States, unused to toil and hardships, but eager in their search for 
gold, left all the comforts of home, and entered the lists. Men 
from the West, not quite so daintily raised, pressed onwards in th( 
race, and together they sought this far-famed Eldorado. Some 
realized their anticipations, but many a loved and cherished one 
" fell and perished, weary with the march of life." Thousands 
reached the goal of their hopes, by a long passage around the 
Horn, some by a slow, vexatious crossing of the Isthmus ; but 
thousands more took that route which promised most of health to 
the traveller, — the one opened from Missouri overland to the 
Pacific shore, by the courageous, the enterprising, the adventurous 
Colonel Fremont. This, the finding of which through the moun- 
tains by unequalled energy, and endurance, and trials, and suffer- 
ings, which would have unnerved ordinary men, became now the 
general thoroughfare to Oregon and California. This newly 
opened highway led directly through the Indian Territory, known 
to my childhood as the " Great American Desert ; " and many a 
one, looking upon its unrivalled and ever varying scenes of beauty, 
as his route for days lay over its beautiful rolling prairies, decked 
with the loveliest flowers in every shade of coloring, or camped 
under the noble trees by the bank of some swiftly flowing stream, 
felt strong desires for a home, where he could sit under his own 
vine and fig-tree, in a land like this. Many then resolved to find 
therein such home, when it should be thrown open to settlement. 
The face of this country is beautiful beyond all comparison. The 
prairies, though broad and expansive, stretching away miles in 
many places, seem never lonely or wearisome, being gently undu- 
lating, or more abruptly rolling ; and, at the ascent of each new 
roll of land, the traveller finds himself in the midst of new loveli- 
ness. There are also high bluffs, usually at some little distance 
from the rivers, running through the entire length of the country, 



INTRODUCTION. - 3 

while ravines run from them to the rivers. These are, at some 
points, quite deep and difficult to cross, and, to a traveller unac- 
quainted with the country, somewhat vexatious, especially where 
the prairie grass is as high as a person's head while seated in a 
carriage. There is little trouble, however, if travellers keep back 
from the water-courses, and near the high lands. These ravines 
are in many instances pictures of beauty, with tall, graceful trees, 
cotton-wood, black walnut, hickory, oak, elm and linwood, stand- 
ing near, while springs of pure cold water gush from the rock. 
The bluiFs are a formation unknown in form and appearance, in 
any other portion of the West. At a little distance, a person 
could scarcely realize that art had not added her finishing touches 
to a work, which nature had made singularly beautiful. Many of 
the bluffs appear like the cultivated grounds about fine old resi- 
dences within the Eastern States, terrace rising above terrace, with 
great regularity ; while others look like forts in the distance. In 
the eastern part of the territory, most of the timber is upon the 
rivers and creeks, though there are in some places most delightful 
spots ; high hills crowned with a heavy growth of trees, and deep 
vales where rippling waters gush amid a dense shade of flower- 
ing shrubbery ; all reminding me of dear New England homes, 
where art and taste had labored long. Higher than the bluffs are 
natural mounds, which also have about them the look of art. 
They rise to such a height as to be seen at a great distance, and 
add peculiar beauty to the whole appearance of the country. 
From the summit of these the prospect is almost unlimited in 
extent, and unrivalled in beauty. The prairie for miles, with its 
gently undulating rolls, lies before the eye. Rivers, glistening in' 
the sunlight, flow on between banks crowned with tall trees ; — 
beyond these, other high points arise. Trees are scattered here 
and there like old orchards, and cattle in large numbers are graz- 
ing upon the hillside, and in the valleys, giving to all the look of 
cultivation and home life. It is, indeed, difficult to realize that 
for thousands of years this country has been a waste, uncultivated 
and solitary, and that months only have elapsed since the white 
settler has sought here a home. 



4 , KANSAS. 

SOIL. 

The soil for richness can be surpassed in no country. It is of 
a black color, wiih a sub-soil of clay and limestone basis. Vege- 
tation is most luxuriant. The soil and climate are most admira- 
bly adapted to the raising of grains of every known variety. The 
growth of melons, cantelopes, tomatoes, squashes, — in fact, vegeta- 
bles of all kinds, — is wonderful. Western Missouri bears most 
excellent fruit of all kinds, apples of the best varieties, peaches, 
plums, grapes, etc. The soil and climate in Kansas being similar, 
a very few years will see the perfection of the same fruits through- 
out the country. 

Wild fruits are abundant. Pawpaws, a fruit resembling some- 
-what a banana, are very sweet and luscious, in the estimation of 
some, while others think them quite unpalatable. The mandrake, or 
custard-apple, is a pleasant fruit, ripe in August, of the size 
and appearance of an egg-plum, medicinal also in its nature. The 
wild plum, cherry and mulberry, grow in many places. The plum 
is very good of itself, and, as a tree to graft upon, valuable. 
Gooseberries, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries, grow 
spontaneously. With a very little pains, the settlers in Kansas 
can soon surround themselves with all the fruits which require 
several years in New England to cultivate to any degree of per- 
fection. Meat here, especially beef, is much nicer than beef 
fattened elsewhere. It is owing, probably, to the rapidity with 
which it fattens in this country. Beef of a year old in many 
instances is unequalled. Venison, prairie chickens, wild turkeys, 
rabbits, and squirrels, furnish dainties for the most fastidious 
epicure. 

CLIMATE. 

The climate is exceedingly lovely. With a clear, dry atmos- 
phere, and gentle, health-giving breezes, it cannot be otherwise. 
The peculiar clearness of the atmosphere cannot be imagined by 
a non-resident. For miles here a person can clearly distinguish 
objects, which, at the same distance in any other part of this coun- 
try, he could not see at all. The summers are long, and winters 
short. 



INTRODUCTION. 6 

The winters are usually very mild and open, with little snow, 
— none falling in the night, save what the morrow's sun will 
quickly cause to disappear. So mild are they, that the cattle of 
the Indians, as those of the settlers in Western Mii^souri, feed the 
entire year in the prairies and river-bottoms. The Indians say- 
that, once in about seven years, Kansas sees a cold and severe 
winter, with snows of a foot in depth. Two weeks of cold weather 
is called a severe winter. Then the spring-like weather comes in 
February ; the earth begins to grow warm, and her fertile bosom 
ready to receive the care of the husbandman. 

The winds of March and April are the most disagreeable out- 
door arrangements in Kansas. It were quite useless for a person 
of little gravity, or strength, to attempt much progress in locomo- 
tion, when from out the halls of ^olus the winds have rushed 
untrammelled, and unrestrained. The breezes of summer, however, 
are most delightful. With the sun the wind rises, and makes 
such a difference in the actual effect of the temperature upon one's 
senses, as to lead to doubts as to the correctness of thermometers 
in this country. The mornings and evenings are always cool and 
pleasant, and one experiences nothing here of those simimer nights, 
so common even in New England, where, between weariness occa- 
sioned by intense heat, and mosquitoes, no refreshing sleep will 
come. Very seldom are the nights, in Kansas, that blankets are 
not found an essential comfort. The rains are frequent, and copi- 
ous. So far as my own experience goes, we have no more of a 
wet or dry season than in Massachusetts. Seldom a week passes 
in the summer without rain, often coming in most gentle showers 
in the night, unaccompanied by thunder and lightning ; while, 
early in the spring especially, there is such display of electricity 
as one seldom sees. The whole heavens will be one perfect sea 
of flame, and thunder deafening in the continual roar, while the 
waters fall so abundantly, that they run in all directions, after the 
earth has filled its pores, like a miniature deluge. There is a 
sublimity, an awe-inspiring influence, in such displays of grandeur 
and power, as make the creature feel his nothingness, and that the 
Creator is indeed all, — the great All-Father, All-wise, All-good, 
All-powerful. Days, like September days in New England, linger 



6 KANSAS. 

here until the old year has given place to the new ; and the last 
of December has the genial breath, the pleasant sun, and glad 
look of early autumn. But the changes of weather come sud- 
denly. One may be dreaming all the morning, influenced by the 
pleasant temperature around him, of the fair Italian land ; and, 
ere the sun finds its setting, may fancy himself nearing the pole. 
Yet in all these changes no one takes cold. There is something 
so invigorating in the atmosphere, so bracing, and the lungs have 
such play and action in it, that vigor is increased where health 
was before enjoyed ; and in many a case, where the pulse was 
faint and low, and the invalid looked out upon life with little 
purpose and fevr aims, feeling that its limits were nearly reached, 
the roses of health have again bloomed, and the life-blood coursed 
joyously. For consumptives there can be no better country than 
this. In many instances, most material has been the change, and 
permanent the cure. 

This country, covering an extent of surface larger than the thir- 
teen Atlantic States, was, by an act of Congress approved March 
6, 1820, forever sealed to freedom. This prohibition to slavery is 
most definitely expressed in these words : 

" Sec. 8. Be it further enacted. That in all that territory ceded 
by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, 
which lies north 36° 30' of north latitude, not included within 
the limits of the state contemplated by this act, slavery and 
involuntary servitude, otherwise than as the punishment of crimes, 
shall be, and is hereby, forever prohibited." 

This country, than which the sun shines upon no fairer, with 
its mountains, prairies and valleys, lying midway between the 
north and south, east and west, in the very heart of the United 
States, was never to be cursed with the blackest of all villanies, 
the bitterest of all evils — human slavery. The clanking of 
chains was never to create a discord in that harmony, where the 
wild bird sent forth its gushing lay for freedom, where the whis- 
pering breezes through the leafy wood caught up the music, echo- 
' ing it amid the quivering leaves, and where all nature sang a 
continual song for freedom. But what has been the sequel? 
How has this act, entered into as a solemn compact before God 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

and man, been regarded? The slave oligarchists looked with 
covetous eyes upon this fair region. They had gained, heretofore, 
whatever they had desired by craft, bribery, or threats ; and the 
North, imbecile in many of its legislators, had acquiesced. They 
had gained new territory, for slavery extension, by the compromise 
of 1850, when New England's greatest senator sounded his own 
dcath-knell, and, in the passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill, had 
rendered the entire country slave-hunting ground. Had they not 
good reason, then, to hope by legislation to get Kansas too ? 

On the 14th of December, 1853, Mr. Dodge, of Iowa, asked 
leave to introduce a bill to organize the Territory of Nebraska, 
which was finally referred to the Committee on Territories. This 
was a simple territorial bill, in no way undertaking to touch the 
compromise of 1820, the prohibition of slavery in the territory. 
This bill was opposed by Atchison, Yice-President of the United 
States, as well as by other southern men. On the 4th of Janu- 
ary, 1854, Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, as chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Territories, reported this bill back to the Senate, with 
various amendments, accompanied by a special report. 

The whole country was moved at the prospect of such an out- 
rage as this bill proposed — the annulling of a sacred compact, 
the breaking of a plighted faith. How, through all that long 
season of discussion upon the bill, more than three months, every 
freedom-loving heart was moved to hope this great wrong might 
not be committed ! How every honest feeling was stirred at the 
eloquent words of Chase, Griddings, Sumner, Seward, Hale, and 
all our noble men in Congress, who battled mightily against this 
evil ! We can never forget what indignation fired the veins of 
all lovers of God and men, as the wires brought news of the 
indignity offered to New England's three thousand protesting 
clergymen, and what shame mantled the cheek of many to remem- 
ber that the Benedict Arnold of the age should have been born 
of any woman in a beautiful, thriving town nestled amid the Green 
Mountains. Well will the North remember how the womanly 
element mingled its influence to stay this current of evil; how the 
protests, with many thousands of names, poured in through all 
tho avenues of communication to the capital. Woman's heart 



8 KANSAS. 

was touched ; all the deep sympathies of her nature were stirred ; 
and, while hourly she prayed that no new field of suffering and 
woe should be opened for her down-trodden and oppressed sister, 
she acted too, and, through the melting snows of early spring, 
each woman in many towns was called upon for her signature, by 
one of her own sex. Could she see this great country — only a 
little less in extent than Italy, France, and Spain, together — 
thrown open to the foul inroads of slavery, so that no woman with 
black blood in her veins could be a welcome inmate of her father's 
house, feel safe in the protection of a husband's love, or, in caress- 
ing the children Grod gave her, call them her own, and make no 
effort in their behalf ? No. It was not thus, thank God ! Men 
felt, and women felt. Notwithstanding all that was done, and all 
that was felt, the bill, odious in the sight of God and hateful to 
man, was passed. Mr. Sumner made his final protest, for himself 
and the New England clergy, against slavery in Kansas and 
Nebraska, upon the night of the final passage of the Nebraska 
and Kansas Bill, May 25, 1854. After a most stormy and con- 
tentious debate, on Sunday morning the bill was passed. The 
slave power was again triumphant. A consolidated despotism 
was striving to crush out every aspiration for truth, for goodness, 
for freedom, from every free-born soul. Southern men argued 
that by this new compromise the agitation in our country would 
cease, and peace be restored. How has it been ? Civil feud, 
strife, and continual agitation, have been the result in all commu- 
nities. The " crime against Kansas " consummated in Congress, 
the infraction of solemn obligations, has been acted over in frauds 
upon the ballot-box in Kansas, and has been the occasion of rob- 
beries, murders, civil war, in her fair borders. 

When, at that dark midnight hour, the bill was passed, the 
final blow was struck, seemingly the knell for the burial of Lib- 
erty was sounded. But there was light also in the hour, in the 
deed. There could no more be sown in common ground the seeds 
of harmony and good-will. The hosts of freedom must marshal 
their forces, and draw their lines against the lines of slavery, 
and each man fight courageously on the accepted issue. It was 
the death of all compromises too. 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

From this period, the passage of the bill, and the throwing 
open of the territory to settlemeet upon the principles of " squat- 
ter sovereignty," let us note carefully the whole course of those 
men, who so strenuously urged its passage, and see to what extreme 
measures, bringing untold sufferings upon the innocent people of 
Kansas, they have resorted, to bring about their first design — 
that of making Kansas a slave state. As early as the sprino- of 
1854, Stringfellow, and other men of like calibre in Western Mis- 
souri, founded secret societies, called Blue Lodges, Friends' 
Societies, etc. Their members were sworn, upon peril of their 
lives, to make Kansas a slave state. There were published 
accounts of meetings held in several towns in Western Missouri, 
with most fiery resolutions, denouncing northern men, ofiering 
large rewards for the heads of some, and explicitly avowing their 
purpose of settling the territory with pro-slavery men, and keeping 
all others out. In May, at a meeting held in Westport, one of 
the principal speakers continually interlarded his harangue from 
the court-house steps with " Ball to the muzzle, knife to the hilt ! " 
" Damn the abolitionists ! " " We '11 put them all in the Missouri 
river." Two gentlemen from Massachusetts, who travelled in 
Western Missouri in June and July, 1854, saw Mr. Stringfellow 
on their way up the river. He was continually reiterating, with 
horrid oaths, that " Kansas would and should be a slave state," 
and "no abolitionist should be allowed to live in the territory; " 
that " if he had the power, he would hang every abolitionist in 
the country, and every man north of Mason and Dixon's line was 
an abolitionist; " that " every means should be used to drive free- 
state men from the territory." 



CHAPTER II. 

THE FIRST ELECTION — FIRST INVASION. 

AVhile these things were being done in Missouri, the press of 
the North was publishing accounts of the new country opened to 
settlement, and directing the attention of emigrants, seeking a 
western home, to this Eden of America. It was evident that a 
large emigration would naturally flow into Kansas from the North 
and East ; and, to enable the emigrant to reach his destination 
easily and cheaply, an association was formed, which completed its 
organization in July. The purpose of this association, as declared 
by themselves, was to " assist emigrants to settle in the West." 
Their objects were to induce emigrants to move westward in suck 
large bodies, that arrangements might be made with boat lines and 
railroads for tickets at reduced rates ; to erect saw-mills and board- 
ing-houses, and establish schools in different localities, that the 
people might gather around them, and not be obliged to wait 
years for the blessings and privileges of social life, as most early 
settlers in the West have done. Transplanted into the wilder- 
ness, they hoped to bring to them the civilization and the comforts 
of their old homes. 

Mr. Eli Thayer, of Worcester, Mass., was one of the first 
movers in the scheme. To some suggestions of his the associa- 
tion owed its birth. He, with A. A. Lawrence of Boston, Mass., 
and J. M. F. Williams, of Cambridge, Mass., acted as trustees 
of the Stock Company formed July 24, 1854. They are all 
gentlemen of sterling integrity and noble purpose, and with un- 
tiring energy have devoted their labors and money to the cause 
of freedom. Dr. T. H. Webb has from the first acted as secre- 
tary of this association, and by day and night has given himself 



THE FIRST ELECTION — FIRST INVASION. 11 

to tlie work of aid for Kansas. His courage has never faltered, 
or his efforts been diminished, in the hour of prosperity, or 
when dark hordes of invaders hovered in our borders; and, with 
unabated zeal, he still looks forward to the day of our deliverance 
from the bonds of the oppressor. 

On the 21st of February, an act was passed to incorporate the 
New England Emigrant Aid Company. The purposes of the act 
were distinctly stated to be " directing emigration westward, and 
aiding and providing accommodation for the emigrants after 
arriving at their place of destination." 

The first of August, 1854, a party of about thirty settlers, 
chiefly from New England, arrived in the territory, and settled at 
Lawrence. Mr. C. H. Branscomb, of Boston, on a tour in the 
territory a few weeks earlier in the summer, had selected this 
spot as one of peculiar loveliness for a town site. A part of them 
pitched their tents upon the high hill south-west of the town site, 
and named it Mount Oread, after the Mount Oread School in 
AVorcester, of which Mr. Thayer was founder and proprietor. 

When the party arrived, one man only occupied the town site 
with his family. His improvements were purchased, and he aban- 
doned his claim for the town. This party was met with insult 
and abuse on the Missouri river, and on their way into the terri- 
tory. After they arrived in Lawrence, bands of these Missou- 
rians gathered along the river bottoms, and wherever they put a 
stake they made a pretended claim. They invaded the meetings 
of the actual settlers in the neighborhood, and attempted to con- 
trol them. Attempts were also made to frighten and drive them 
from the territory by fomenting disputes about claims, and other 
quarrels. Sept. 28, 1854, a squatter meeting was held at 
Homsby & Ferril's store, on the California road, about two miles 
from Lawrence, at which the free-state men had a majority. 

The squatters at length decided by vote that no person, resident 
of another state, should be allowed to vote at these meetings, etc., 
and for a while they made their own regulations. 

About the first of September, the second New England party 
arrived and settled at Lawrence. As soon as it was known that a 



12 KANSAS. 

New England settlement was to be made at Lawrence, every means 
was resorted to, to break it up. 

About the first of October, a man from the Western States, who 
said Stephen A. Douglas was a better man than Jesus Christ, 
made his appearance with his friends, and used every efi'ort to break 
up the New England settlement. The people however proceeded 
witli their improvements, erecting a saw-mill, boarding-houses, 
and stores. 

On the sixth of October, a demand was made that a certain tent, 
standing within five rods of the house occupied by the original 
claimant, should be removed from its present location, and no more 
improvements should be made in that part of the town. Several 
pro-slavery men, mostly from Missouri, assembled in the vicinity 
of the tent, and kindly notified Dr. Robinson " that if he did not 
remove the tent in thirty minutes, they should." The following 
laconic reply was returned to them : " If you molest our property 
you do it at your peril." The citizens of the settlement came 
together to witness the removal, and with praiseworthy patience 
waited for the half hour to expire. The time at length passed by, 
and no movement was made toward removing the tent. Another half 
hour was waning fast, and the thirty New Englanders were quietly 
waiting for the tent's removal. At last one of the citizens asked 
another if it " would be best to hit the first man who attempted to 
remove it, or fire over his head ? " The decisive reply was, " I 
would be ashamed, for the rest of my life, to fire at a man and not 
hit him." 

There was a spy among them, and, as soon as he heard this con- 
versation, so brief, yet pointed, he went over to the enemy's camp. 
The intelligence he imparted, of whatever nature it might be, had 
the effect to scatter the Missourians at once. They left with oaths, 
and threats that " in one week they would return with twenty thou- 
sand men from Missouri, and then the tent should be removed." 

The week came and went, and about the same number of Mis- 
sourians as before appeared, but not to remove the tent. For some 
reason, the people of Missouri, although urgently called upon, did 
not respond, and the belligerent parties concluded to postpone any 
warlike action. 



THE FIRST ELECTION — FIRST INVASION. 13 

The people of Missouri call all eastern and northern men cow- 
ards, and are evidently disappointed at the calm determination of 
the people of Lawrence to protect themselves from mob violence. 
They do not understand how a people can be brave, yet quiet. 
With them, loud swelling words are received as evidence of valor; 
and they could not therefore comprehend the quiet, yet firm prepa- 
rations for deadly conflict made by the few settlers in Lawrence. 

The buildings erected in Lawrence were of most primitive style, 
of pole and thatch. Most of the people for some weeks boarded 
in common, and. in such a dwelling, sleeping upon the ground on 
buffalo robes and blankets. 

Oct. 1st. — Rev. S. Y. Lune preached the first sermon in 
Lawrence, in the " Pioneer House." A few rough boards were 
brought for seats, and, with singing by several good voices among 
the pioneers, the usual church services were performed. The first 
Bible Class in Lawrence was formed that day. The people then, 
as many succeeding Sabbaths, were gathered together by the ringing 
of a large dinner-bell. 

Qth. — At a meeting of the association, it was decided that 
the town be named Lawrence, after Amos A. Lawrence, of Boston, 
who was doing much for the settlement. It had been called pre- 
viously Wakarusa and New Boston, while the Missourians gave it 
the name of Yankee town. 

9th. — Gov. Beeder and other officers appointed by the Presi- 
dent arrived in the territory. On the nineteenth of the month 
they came to Lawrence, and were received with a general greeting 
by the people. A dinner was provided for them, and with speeches 
and sentiments some pleasant hours were passed. 

The first child born in Lawrence was named Lawrence Carter, 
the city association presenting him with a lot. He was born Octo- 
ber 26. 

The first election of the territory was for delegate to Congress, 
and was held on the twenty-ninth November, 1854. The conspiracy 
against the rights of the settlers was gaining ground in Missouri, 
and, before the day of election, armed hordes poured over her bor- 
ders. In the second district, one of the citizens, who was a candi- 
date far delegate to Congress, was told, by one of the Missourians, 
2 



14 KANSAS. 

he would be iibused and probably killed if he challenged a vote. 
He was at length compelled to seek the protection of the judges. 
After the election these men mounted into their wagons, crying 
out, " All aboard for Westport and Kansas City ! " 

Similar frauds were practised in the other districts. In the 
eighth district, five hundred and eighty-four illegal votes were cast, 
and only twenty legal. It was a remote district, with a sparse 
population. At Leavenworth, then a little village, several hundred 
men came over from Platte, Clay and Ray counties, camped around 
the town, and controlled the polls. Many of them were men of 
influence in Missouri. Gen. Whitfield was, by these illegal votes, 
elected delegate to Congress. 

In January and February, 1855, Gov. Reeder caused the census 
to be taken. The whole number of inhabitants was found to be 
eight thousand five hundred and one. 

The same day that the census returns were brought in complete, 
Gov. Reeder issued his proclamation for an election to be held 
March 30th, 1855, for the Legislative Assembly. 

The winter in Kansas was very mild and pleasant. There was 
not a day that the people could not follow their out-door employ- 
ments, and but little snow fell. With occasional lectures before 
the Athenaeum just formed, and a general prevalence of kindly 
feeling, the pioneers passed a pleasant winter amid the uncouth 
arrangements of the new home. 

Before the time of the election in March, the border papers were 
again rife with their threats of outrage. The following, from the 
Leavenworth Herald, will suffice to show the character of the lead- 
ers of the pro-slavery party, and their intentions regarding the 
manner in which Kansas was to be made a slave state. The plan 
of operation was laid down in an address to a crowd at St. Joseph, 
Missouri, by Stringfellow. " I tell yoii to mark every scoundrel 
among you that is the least tainted with free-soilism, or abolition- 
ism, and exterminate him. Neither give nor take quarter from the 
d — d rascals. I propose to mark them in this house, and on the 
present occasion, so you may crush them out. To those having 
qualms of conscience, as to violating laws, state or national, the 
time has come when such impositions must be disregarded, as your 



THE VilL^T KLECTION — FIRST INVASION. 16 

lives and property are in danger, and I advise you one and all to 
enter every election district in Kansas, in defiance of Keeder and 
his vile myrmidons, and vote at the point of the bowie-knife and 
revolver. Neither give nor take quarter, as our cause demands it. 
It is enough that the slave-holding interest wills it, from which 
there is no appeal. What right has Gov. Reeder to rule Missou- 
rians in Kansas ? His proclamation and prescribed oath must be 
disregarded ; it is your interest to do so. Mind that slavery is es- 
tablished where it is not prohibited." 

Laws, state and national, are to be disregarded ; every one 
tainted with any sentiment of freedom to be murdered ; every elec- 
tion district to be invaded, and votes cast in a neighboring terri- 
tory at the point of bowie-knife and revolver. This same String- 
fellow is one of the leaders of the " law and order " party. 

A few days before the thirtieth of March crowds of men might 
DO seen wending their way to some general rendezvous in the various 
counties of Ray, Howard, Carroll, Boone, Lafayette, Saline, 
Randolph and Cass, in Missouri. They were rough, brutal looking 
men, of most nondescript appearance. They had, however, one mark 
upon them, a white or blue ribbon, to distinguish them from the 
settlers. This was wholly unnecessary, no one ever mistaking one 
of these men for an intelligent, educated settler in the territory. 
Those Missourians who did not feel the interest to come over to 
vote, paid their money, or contributed provisions and wagons for 
the new raid. The expenses of the vandal horde were paid, and 
they were e7i route again to overrun the fair country, with drunk- 
enness, and fraud, and murder, if the cause demanded it. Their 
watchword was, " Neither give nor take quarter." 

The people of Missouri had been excited by the inflammatory 
rumors, put in circulation among them by their leaders, regarding 
the design and character of eastern emigration. Aided by the 
oaths of their secret societies, they had acted upon their base pas- 
sions and prejudices to such a degree that they were fully equal 
to any deeds of violence. 

Provisions were sent ahead of the parties, and those intended 
for the invaders at Lawrence were stored in the house of W. Ly- 
kins. Jhe polls were also opened at the same place. Some of 



16 KANSAS. 

the party c^me in on the evening previous to the election, and on 
the morning of the thirtieth of March about one thousand men, 
under the command of Col. Samuel Young, of Boone county, and 
Claiborne F. Jackson, came into Lawrence. They came in about 
one hundred and ten wagons, and upon horseback, with music, and 
banners flying. They were armed with guns, pistols, rifles and 
bowie-knives. They brought two cannon loaded with musket 
balls. 

The evening preceding the election, these men were gathered at 
the tent of one of their leaders, Capt. Jackson, and in speeches 
made to them by Col. Young, and others, it was declared, " that 
more voters were here than would be needed to carry the elec- 
tion," and that there was a scarcity at Tecumseh, Bloomington, 
Hickory Point, and other places, eight, ten, and twelve miles dis- 
tant. Volunteers came forward, and the next morning left Law- 
rence for those places. 

• When this band of men were coming to Lawrence, they met Mr. 
N. B. Blanton, formerly of Missouri, who had been appointed 
one of the judges of election by Grov. E-eeder. Upon his saying 
that he should feel bound, in executing the duties of his office, to 
demand the oath as to residence in the territory, they attempted, 
by bribes first, and then with threats of hanging, to induce him 
to receive their votes without the oath. Mr. Blanton not appear- 
ing on the election day, a new judge, by name Bobert A. Cum- 
mins, who claimed that a man had a right to vote if he had been 
in the territory but an hour, was appointed in his place. The 
Missourians came to the polls from the second ravine west of the 
town, where they were encamped in tents, in parties of one hundred 
at a time. 

Before the VQting commenced, however, they said, that " if the 
judges appointed by the governor did not allow them to vote, 
they would appoint judges who would." They did so in the case 
of Mr. Abbott, one of the judges, who had become indignant, all 
law being outraged, and resigned. Mr. Benjamin was elected in 
his place. Soon after the voting commenced, some question of 
legality was raised in regard to the vote of a Mr. Page. Col. 
Young interfered, saying he would decide the matter. Mr. Page 



THE FIRST ELECTION — FIRST INVASION. IT 

withdrew his vote, and Col. Young oJSered his, saying he was a 
resident of the territory, but refusing to take the oath. His vote 
was registered. When asked by Mr. Abbott " if he intended to 
make Kansas his future home," he replied, that " it was none of 
his business ; " that, " if he was a resident there, he should ask no 
more." Col. Young then mounted on to the window-sill, telling 
the crowd " he had voted, and they could do the same." He told 
the judges " it was no use swearing them, as they would all swear 
as he had done." The other judges deciding to receive such votes, 
Mr. Abbott resigned. 

The crowd was often so great around the log cabin, that many 
of the voters, having voted, were hoisted on to the roof of the 
building, thus making room for others. Afterwards, especially 
when the citizens began to vote, a passage-way was made through 
the crowd. Between a double file of armed men, while they were 
continually asking for the prominent men in Lawrence, their ques- 
tions always coupled with threats of shooting, or hanging, our cit- 
izens passed to the polls. Several citizens of Lawrence were driven 
from the ground during the day, with threats of fatal violence. 
One man escaped by a perilous leap off the high bank of the river, 
several shots whizzing past him. 

As a special favor to the old men, who were weary with travel- 
ling, and wanted to get back to their tents to rest, they were 
allowed to vote first. Many of the Missourians left for home as 
soon as they had voted, while others remained until morning. 
They entered freely the houses of the citizens, without ceremony 
or invitation, in some instances taking their meals with them. So 
loud were the threats of the Missourians against the town, that a 
guard was kept around it the following night. There was, how- 
ever, no disturbance. 

The whole number of names on the poll lists was one thousand 
and thirty-four, of which eight hundred and two were non-residents 
and illegal voters. 

BLOOMINGTON. 

Early on the morning of the day of election, five or six hun- 
dred Missourians, armed with rifles, guns, pistols and bowie-knives, 

2# 



18 KANSAS. 

with flrgs flying, went to Bloomington, in wagons, and upon horse- 
back. Samuel J. Jones, of Westport, Claiborne F. Jackson, 
with his volunteers from the camp at Lawrence, and a Mr. Steel}'^, 
of Independence, were the leaders of this motley gang. The day 
here was one continual scene of outrage and violence. Scarcely 
were the polls open, before Jones marched up to the window, at the 
head of the crowd, and demanded that they be allowed to vote 
without being sworn as to their residence. Little bands of fifteen 
or twenty men were formed by Jackson. He gave to them the 
guns from the wagons, which some of them loaded. Jackson had 
previously declared, amid repeated cheers, that " they came there 
to vote ; " " if they had been there only five minutes they had a 
right to vote ; " " that they would not go home without voting." 
Like the party at Lawrence they tied white ribbons in their button- 
holes. Upon the refusal of the judges to resign, the mob broke 
in the windows, glass, and sash, and, presenting pistols and guns, 
threatened to shoot them. A voice from the outside cried, " Do 
not shoot them ; there are pro-slavery men in the house ! " A pry 
was then put under the corner of the log cabin, letting it rise and 
fall ; but the same fear of injury to pro-slavery men proved the 
security of the others. The two judges still remaining firm in 
their refusal to allow them to vote, Jones led on a party with 
bowie-knives drawn, and pistols cocked. With watch in hand, he 
declared to the judges, " he would give them five minutes in which 
to resign, or die." The five minutes passed by. Jones said he 
" would give another minute, but no more." The pro-slavery 
judge snatched up the ballot-boxes, and, crying out " Hurrah for 
Missouri ! " ran into the crowd. The other judges, persuaded by 
their friends, who thought them in imminent peril from the rough 
and reckless men, brandishing their deadly weapons at every mo- 
ment, while curses and oaths were a part of every sentence, passed 
out, one of them putting the poll-books in his pocket. Jones, see- 
ing the movement, snatched from him some papers, which were of 
immaterial value ; but, not finding his mistake, he also ran out 
crying, " Hurrah for Missouri ! " They took Judge Wakefield, 
one of the citizens, a prisoner, and made him stand upon a wagon 
and make them a speech. After tying a white ribbon in his button- 
hole they let hini go. 



THE FIRST ELECTION — FIRST INVASION. 19 

A Mr. Blace was abused by them in a most ruffianly manner. He 
having replied in the affirmative whether he would take the oath, he 
was dragged away from the polls by the brutal crowd, with instant 
death staring him in the face, the incessant yells of the mob 
being, " Cut his throat ! " " Tear his heart out ! " " Kill the d — d 
nigger thief! " After getting him away from the house, they 
stood around him with bowie-knives drawn and pistols cocked ; 
one man putting to his heart a drawn knife, another holding a 
cocked pistol by his ear, and another yet striking at him with a 
club. 

A great many threats were made " to kill the judges, if they 
did not receive their votes ; " " no man should vote who would 
submit to be sworn ; " " no man should vote who was not all rio'ht 
on the goose ; " and " they would vote by foul if not by fair 
means." 

Cries of " Shoot him ! " resounded during the day, and, in such 
a Pandemonium as would shame even Pluto's dark domains, three 
hundred and eleven illegal votes were polled. 

Will not Americans blush that such indignities have been 
offered her citizens, and no remedy been afforded by those in power ? 

In the other districts the polls were taken possession of by bands 
of these marauders, and similar scenes of violence were enacted. 
They not only came in numbers sufficient to carry the election over 
the votes of the actual settlers, but by their outrageous conduct 
compelled them, in most instances, to keep away from the polls. 
Not satisfied with once voting, many of them, by changing hats 
and coats, repeatedly voted in the same precinct, or, after voting at 
one, went to another. At Marysville, a settlement in the northern 
part of the territory, twenty-five or thirty men polled one hundred 
and fifty votes. 

Many of the men elected to the Legislature were, and still are, 
residents of Missouri. The judges of election appointed by Gov. 
E,eeder were obliged, by threats of death, to leave the polls, and 
others were appointed from among the Missourians. One of the 
judges of election, for refusing to sign the returns, in spite of 
many threats, was fired upon on his way home, but fortunately 
<Vas uninjured. These bands of whiskey-drinking, degraded, foul- 



20 KANSAS. 

mouthed marauders came under the leadership of Sam'l J. Jones, 
of Westport, Col. ham'l Young, and C. F. Jackson, Col. Sam'l 
H. Woodson, of Independence, Mo., Gen. D. E,. Atchison, of 
Platte City, and Gen. B. F. Stringfellow, of Weston. 

Col. Woodson was the leader of the rabble of Tecumseh, -while 
B. F. Stringfellow was very active in his efforts to promote the 
pro-slavery interests in one of the northern precincts. Atchison, 
the urgent advocate of squatter sovereignty, the former Vice- 
President of the United States, after controlling one of the pri- 
mary elections in the fourteenth district, was the acknowledged 
leader of a gang at the Nemaha. In opposition to the wishes of 
the actual residents (pro-slavery), he caused a set of candidates to 
be nominated. His words at the time were, " There are ten 
hundred men coming over from Platte county, and if that is n't 
enough we will send five thousand more. We 've come to vote, 
and will vote, or kill every G — d d — d abolitionist in the territory." 
In these northern precincts, besides being armed to the teeth with 
guns, bowie-knives, and revolvers, the ruffians wore hemp in their 
button-holes, as a pledge to carry out the designs of their secret 
societies, and singularly significant of the fiendish nature of the 
institution, while their password was " All right on the hemp." 

Major Mordecai Oliver, member of Congress from Missouri, — 
who, it will be remembered, stated on the floor of the House last 
spring (during the debates preceding the appointment of a com- 
mittee to look into the wrongs of the people of Kansas, and was 
appointed one of the number at his own request), that he knew of 
no one who came from Missouri to vote in the territory, — was 
himself present at the election, and, while it is not known with cer- 
tainty that he voted, he did make a speech, excusing the Missou- 
rians for voting. Faur hundred and seventeen votes were polled 
at this precinct, of which no more than eighty can be legal. It is 
not to be supposed that even wilful blindness could have concealed 
these facts from his sight. Another instance of the elasticity 
which one's conscience may attain may be cited here. While the 
investigating committee were holding their session at AVestport, 
and bandi of armed men from the border towns were continually 
in the streets, making both day and night hideous with their vile 



THE FIRST ELECTION — FIRST INVASION. 21 

curses, and by their oaths calling clown the swift vengeance of 
Heaven, Mr. Oliver to the committee discountenanced such 
unlawful measures in the attempt to make Kansas a slave state, 
but was said to have been heard repeatedly urging on the ruffians 
to deeds of horror, in words of their own choosing, such as " "Wipe 
out the d — d abolitionists ! " " Drive them from the territory ! " 
At this precinct, where Major 0. made his speech, the voters took 
the oath as to residence in the territory. The grounds of their 
residence were the following : One man had cut some poles, and, 
laying them in the form of a square, it constituted his claim, 
x\notlier based his right to a claim in having cut a few sticks 
of wood. Col. Barns recommended all to vote, and not to go 
home without voting. The pro-slavery residents in this precinct, 
as in some others, became so outraged at the course pursued by 
the lawless invaders, that they gladly came over to the ranks 
of the free-siate party, and have since then been among the 
firmest in the cause of freedom. 

In reference to the protests to the election, Major Richard- 
son, who was a resident of Missouri, and whose family still resides 
there, but who was the pro-slavery candidate for council, with 
threats, told Dr. Cutter, the free-state candidate, that if he offered 
a protest, he and his office should be thrown into the Missouri 
river. 

One of the judges in the third district, having at last been 
driven from his post, where he was determined to do his duty, 
made affidavit in a protest of the illegality of the election. An 
indictment for perjury was found against him by the grand jury 
fifteen months ago, and is still pending. Mr. R. has not been 
informed what is the nature of the evidence against him, or who is 
his accuser. 

Mr. W. Phillips, a lawyer of Leavenworth, made affidavit also 
to a truthful protest concerning the election. A meeting was 
soon called, in which the right of free speech upon the peculiar 
institution is denied, as being subversive of the quiet of the com- 
munity, and stigmatized peaceable citizens of free-state sentiments 
as fanatics, incendiaries and traitors. The following resolve was 



22 KANSAS. 

" Resolved^ That the institution of slavery is known and recog- 
nized in this territory ; that we repel the doct"ine that it is a moral 
and political evil, and we hurl back with scorn upon its slanderous 
authors the charge of inhumanity ; and we warn all persons not 
to come to our peaceful firesides to slander us, and sow the seeds 
of discord between the master and the servant ; for, as much as 
we deprecate the necessity to which we may be driven, we cannot 
be responsible for the consequences." 

A committee of vigilance of thirty men was then appointed. 
These steps were taken preparatory to acts of violence which 
would follow, that the pro-slavery party might be bound together 
in their deeds of blood, and, as one man, carry out their nefarious 
designs. Soon after this meeting, the vigilance committee waited 
upon Mr. Phillips, notifying him to leave. Upon his refusal to 
do so, he was seized by them, taken across the river to Weston, 
Missouri, several miles from Leavenworth. There, after being 
tarred and feathered, and one side of his head shaved, he was 
marched about the streets, and finally sold at auction to a negro. 

Just one week after the other meeting proposing these acts 
of lawless indignity upon any and all who should differ from them 
in sentiment, another meeting was called. R. R. Rees, a mem- 
ber elect of the council, presided at this meeting of the 25th of 
May, 1855. This same Rees, on the 30th of March, had declared 
that whoever should say that laying out a town, staking a lot, or 
even driving down stakes on anotlier man's claim, did not entitle 
him to a vote, was either a knave or a fool. Judge Payne, a 
member elect of the House, offered the following resolutions, 
which were unanimously adopted : 

" Resolved, That we heartily indorse the action of the commit- 
tee of citizens that shaved, tarred and feathered, rode on a rail, 
and had sold by a negro, William Phillips, the moral perjurer. 

^^ Resolved, That we return our thanks to the committee for faith- 
fully performing the trust enjoined upon them by the pro-slavery 
party. 

" Resolved, That the committee be now discharged. 

" Resolved, That we severely condemn those pro-slavery men 



THE FIKST ELECTION — FOST INVASION. 23 

who, from mercenary motives, are calling upon the pro-slavery 
party to submit without further action. 

" Resolved, That, in order to secure peace and harmony to the 
community, we now solemnly declare that the pro-slavery party 
will stand firmly by and carry out the resolutions reported by the 
committee appointed for that purpose on the memorable 30th." 

" This meeting was eloquently addressed by Judge Lecompte." 
Thus, Judge Lecompte, and the men elected by force and fraud, 
not " inhabitants of" the district for which they were elected, as 
the organic act requires (this act declaring that " the true intent 
and meaning of this act is to leave the people there perfectly free 
to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way» 
subject to the constitution of the United States " ), are the leaders 
and instigators to a series of lawless acts, whose end we cannot 
even foresee, against' the peaceable and order-loving citizens of the 
territory, exposing them to imminent peril from drunken mobs, 
and death by fiendish violence, if this judge and these law- 
makers so desire. In such hands, and at the mercy of such, men, 
are our lives and safety. 

No other country than this witnesses £o terrible a 'espotism. 



CHAPTEE III. 

EASTERN EMIGRATION — BORDER MEN. 

The first Kansas party of the season left Boston, March 13, 
1855, under the charge of Dr. C. Robinson. There were nearly 
two hundred in the party, men, women and children. We reached 
Kansas city March 24. The name of Kansas city sounded pleas- 
antly to us, wayfarers, twelve days en route from Boston ; and, 
having trunks and carpet-sacks all locked, we were ready to leave 
the boat in anticipation of our arrival. When the cables were 
thrown out upon shore, and the planks lowered, we passed off the 
boat and entered the long parlor at the hotel, only a few steps 
distant. The mystery was, where could a place be found to stow 
away so many. Such place, however, was made for all, and sleep 
without the boat's continual rocking was very sweet. 

2bth. — Another boat came in with another party of Kansas 
passengers. I awakened to find the hotel directly on the levee, 
the street very narrow, the river in front of the house, and 
Clay county opposite, with forest skirting the shore. Wyandotte, 
settled by a tribe of Indians of the same name, was also in sight, 
and in the distance the buildings looked finely, among the trees. 
My husband made an arrangement to accompany a portion of our 
fellow-travellers into the country, to look for a pleasant location 
for a new settlement. 

2Qth. — The party looking for a location left this morning for 
a trip south, and will return to Topeka and Lawrence. Many of 
our party are busy getting teams for their trip into the country, 
buying provisions, and the general outfit for a few weeks ; and 
many left for their new homes in the territory at the " top of the 
morning." We hear a great deal said here of the preparations 



EASTERN EMiaRATION — BORDER MEN. 25 

the Missourians are making to go over into Kansas to vote on the 
30th. We heard the same while on the river; crowds are coming 
from Lexington, also from one hundred miles below that point. 
Mr. P., who was to carry us to the Baptist Mission, said he should 
be ready to start for the mission by ten o'clock. We sat with 
bonnets and shawls on over an hour ; then he concluded we had 
better stay to dinner. About four o'clock, he said, again, we 
would leave Kansas city ; but, as he was continually interrupted 
with company, we were not fairly in the" wagon until another full 
hour had passed. 

We then had a good view of all there is to Kansas city. It is 
a most singular location for a town, being a gathering together 
of hills, high and steep. Houses of very limited dimensions are 
perched upon all the highest points. They have usually a small 
porch over the door, or light piazza. There is another peculiarity 
prevailing here, as elsewhere in Missouri ; the chimneys are all 
built upon the outside of the houses. We passed several of our 
party with ox-teams. In one of the great lumber-wagons was a 
young lady from Massachusetts, who in this way was attempting to 
make the journey of more than a hundred miles into the territory. 

It was near evening when we reached Westport. It has a look 
of recent growth — some good brick buildings and a large hotel. 
A good deal of the Indian, also Sante Fe, trade comes in here. 
We were late at Dr. Barker's, having made a call at a house off 
of the road for some time ; and I was completely chilled through 
on arriving there, so much so as to be unable to walk without 
assistance. The mission is situated about a quarter of a mile from 
the great California road, four miles from Westport, and about 
two from Eev. Thomas Johnson's Methodist Mission. After the 
road turns from the California road, it descends slightly, and, for 
an eighth of a mile, is skirted with timber upon either side. The 
night was not dark, being starlight ; a^d there was novelty in the 
whole scene presented before us, as we reached the terminus of 
the road. A large yard was enclosed by a high fence, with stairs 
by way of entrance. Some four or five steps were on the outside 
of the fence, a platform, perhaps two feet in width, above it, and 
as many steps on the inside. The occasion of suet an uncouth 
3 



26 KANSAS . 

arrangement I cannot divine, althougK it prevails all through the 
country. The houses of log, making five or six rooms, stretch 
along parallel with the fence, and at some distance from it. The 
ground is still descending. The first effect upon one used to high 
lands is most singular. There is a feeling of oppression at the 
thought of dog-day heats, and insecurity in spring floods. Several 
dogs gave us greeting as we alighted from the carriage and stum- 
bled over the stairway. We were glad to be at the end of our 
evening's ride — to feel 'safe after its insecurity. We had been 
off on a wild, untravelled road, to see a person who had sent for 
Mr. P. to come and see him, without telling him the reason of 
such message. He had urgently, however, pressed his coming. It 
was dark ere we reached his house, and, to show us a nearer way 
back, he took us down through fields and by-paths. He walked 
behind us, and I could not resist the inclination to turn my head 
occasionally to see what our guide might be doing. A foe in the 
front would have been more agreeable than in the rear, though 
the event proved there was no occasion for fear. 

We found Dr. Barker's family most hospitable and pleasant, 
and appreciated thankfully the prospect of a quiet resting-place 
for a few weeks after this long, wearisome journey. How cheer- 
fully the fire beamed a welcome, and how genial its heat after such 
a chilly ride ! The great logs were rolled into the huge fireplace, 
and burned and crackled until every corner of the room was light 
as day. Supper being over, we were soon in dream-land ; friends 
we had left were around us; the " loved and lost " were near. 

21th. — The sun shining in at our windows disturbed our slum- 
bers early, just before the little Indian girl came in to start a fire. 
One glance at the room was sufficient to show that our host and 
hostess were not born in this western land. Books, pamphlets, 
pictures, vases, &c., were on all the tables, walls, and everywhere. 
Sixteen years ago they came to the West ; and Br. Barker has 
worked indefatigably for the best good of the Shawnees. As 
minister, teacher, and physician, he has labored for their physical 
as well as spiritual good, through summer's heat and winter's cold, 
by day and night, with unceasing effort. Through the evil re- 
ports and influence against him of Kev. Mr. Johnson, his school 



EASTERN EMIGRATION — BORDER MEN. 27 

has been discontinued. A colored woman, whom he assisted to 
gain her freedom, and two little Indian girls, are still in his fam- 
ily. Since this emigration to the territory commenced, their 
house has been a pleasant home for many on their way thither ; 
some remaining with them six or eight weeks. Their kindness 
will be gratefully remembered by many. 

29^A. — The Missourians, for some days, have been passing into 
the territory. They talk loudly of " fighting, and driving out 
the free-state men." They go armed and provisioned. There is 
nothing truer, however, than that ^' stillest waters run deepest ; " 
and the most courageous men usually have no occasion to boast 
of their courage. 

oOth. — It is the election day in the territory. We shall hope 
to hear something by to-morrow from Kansas. There are several 
families stopping here, mostly from Indiana, with some pleasant 
ladies among them. Their peculiarities of speech cause us to 
smile occasionally, while I dare say our Yankeeisms are as strange 
to them. This " feeling powerful bad " and " mighty weak " 
sounds oddly to us ; so also when they say, '* a right smart chance 
of calicoes." There is a little English woman boarding here. 
She is young and girlish. She was born in India, of English 
parents, and, upon their death, she came to this country. She is 
very artless and childlike in her manner, and, I fear, will see some 
hardships in frontier life. 

3l5^. — It is a warm, sunny day. The spring flowers bloom in 
every sheltered nook. A lemon-colored flower, like adder's tongue 
in New England, bends its graceful stalk before the gentlest 
breeze. We have been out over to the high grounds overlooking 
the main road into the territory for miles ; and it is full of people 
of most desperate look. They come on horseback, in wagons, in 
carts ; in fact, every sort of vehicle seems to have been put in 
requisition to convey these men into the territory. Now and 
then a carriage of more pretensions appeared, and was probably 
occupied by some of the leaders of the gang. The horses, as well 
as the men, looked wearied out with their journey. 

Will these frauds be allowed ? or are they a part of the system 
connived at by a corrupt administration to force slavery into 



28 KANSAS. 

Kansas against the desire of the actual settlers ? Mr. P. arrived 
from Lawrence this afternoon with a ladj, who is going to visit 
some acquaintances in Independence, Mo. They have passed 
many of the desperadoes, on their way, armed with all kinds of 
death-dealing instruments. They carried with them provisions 
and whiskey, and baked bread by the roadside. 

April 2d. — Mrs. C. left to-day for Independence. Mr. S. and 
family, from New Hampshire, arrived. Their youngest little one 
sickened on the way, and they are now carrying it with them to 
Lawrence for burial. There is a good deal of sickness upon the 
river, especially among children. 

od. — People are continually coming and going. Gentlemen 
leave their families here, while they look up a situation in the 
territory. They go into the nearest towns to buy grain and feed 
for their horses, which are now very scarce and high. 

Towards evening, four gentlemen came in from Lawrence. The 
doctor, with others, soon came ; and the number continually in- 
creased, until there were fourteen in from Lawrence. A very 
pleasant family, who were our fellow-travellers a part of the way, 
have just arrived : Mrs. Nichols also, the Brattleboro' editress 
and earnest worker for the rights of women, with a young lady, 
soon to be her daughter-in-law. The son, and chief attraction to 
this young lady, was already in the territory. Had we just 
arrived in the West, we should have wondered where all could 
find resting-places for the night ; but we had been here long 
enough to know the expansiveness of western homes. 

4th. — The morning was bright and pleasant. More than fifty 
slept under the roof last night. I gave up my room to some of 
the new comers, and slept on comfortables and buffalo-robes on 
the floor in the attic ; and, with the exception of an occasional 
tug at my pillow, or nibble at my finger, from some stray mouse, 
I never slept better. 

There is a rumor that it is the intention of those Missourians 
elected to the Legislature, by the votes of the overwhelming forces 
who went into the territory on the last week and voted on the 
13th, to assassinate Gov. Reeder unless he grants certificates of 
election. They have so declared ; and these high-minded gentle- 



EASTERN EMIGRATION — BORDER MEN. 29 

men say also that " he can have fifteen minutes to decide whether 
he will give them the certificates, or be shot." Gov. Eeeder has 
only allowed four days' time in which the protests against these 
frauds can be sent in. We fear in many districts the time wall 
be too short to allow them to be canvassed. Besides, the persons 
who desire to do it are in danger of losing their lives in the 
attempt, a large number of the Missourians declaring openly their 
intention to " remain in the territory until the four days are past, 
and that they will kill any one who endeavors to get signers to a 
protest." This threat will intimidate many. 

Word came from the Shawnee Mission that armed bands, upon 
horseback and in carriages, were assembling there. The gentle- 
men who came from Lawrence had mostly gone over. As my 
husband sat quietly writing, an express came, desiring his attend- 
ance also. There have been so many threats upon the part of the 
Missourians, that, had we any faith in their courage, we should 
have believed our friends in imminent peril to-day. As it was, 
we bade them God-speed with light hearts, expecting to see them 
again at sundown. At noon a messenger returned, and reported 
all quiet at the mission. Although the Missourians number 
considerably more than the actual settlers gathered there, they 
seemed to think their forces insufiicient to justify an attack either 
upon Gov. Reeder or them. Gov. Reeder, having been loudly 
threatened with assassination unless he granted the certificates of 
election, examined the papers with pistols cocked near him. 

The members elect were holding caucuses during the day. One 
of the gentlemen from the territory was invited by an acquaint- 
ance to attend one of them ; and he assured me, as he looked in 
upon them at his first entrance, their stolid faces, their disordered, 
rough dress, and their various attitudes, impressed him with any- 
thing rather than their wisdom. Some were lying on the benches, 
others sitting on the backs of the same ; and he could hardly 
believe such a body of men desired to be considered grave legis- 
lators. From the appearance of one, at least, to whom a paper 
was given, who, after scanning it closely, gave it to him with a 
request that he should read it aloud, he judged he could not read 
his own mother tongue. 
3* 



so KANSAS. 

bth. — In every district where the election was contested, and 
papers sent in showing the fraud, Gov. Keeder refused to grant 
certificates. As we feared, however, the time allowed was so 
short, the protests could not reach the mission from a majority of 
the districts. 

^th. — A day of quiet has passed, after the leaving of so many 
people. We went to Westport this morning. The country wa ; 
most pleasant. The air was dry and balmy as a day in Jm:e. 
The birds were carolling among the bursting buds and new- 
springing leaves ; the butterflies, flitting here and there, rejoiced in 
their young life. A part of the way lay through the woods, where 
a driver needs some skill to pass safely among the stumps. We 
met a party of the Indians dressed in their native costume, in 
blankets and moccasins, with much paint upon them, feathers and a 
large quantity of beads. As I looked back, after we passed them, 
and saw one of them with most repulsive face also scanning us 
sharply, with one hand apparently grasping a pistol or gun, I felt 
an involuntary shiver. I saw, however, at the next moment, it was 
only a childish fear, and that mutual curiosity actuated us. 

The Kaw Indians are the most uncultivated of all, while the 
Shawnees have made good advances in civilization. They have 
houses, cultivate their lands, and wear the dress of Americans. 

^th. — Attended the little white church upon the rolling prairie to- 
day. Standing as it does upon quite an elevation, overlooking a 
great extent of woodland and prairie, being built with spire point- 
ing heavenward, it reminds me of dear New England, and her pleas- 
ant villages scattered through all her valleys and upon all her hill- 
sides. Being early, I noticed the Indian worshippers. Many of 
the men seated themselves in little groups upon the grass, and 
entertained each other in their odd-sounding dialect. The women 
came upon horseback, and, after tying their horses to the fence near 
by, came into the church, and maintained most strict decorum 
throughout the entire service. With the exception of the hand- 
kerchief upon their heads, in place of bonnet, their style of dress 
diflPered in no way from our own. They admire rich materials, and 
gay colors, and the most of those I saw at church were clad in 
chameleon silks The service, although we could understand only 



EASTERN EMIGRATION — BORDER MEN. 31 

an occasional word, was very impressive. The speakers, especially 
the interpreters, had rich mellow voices. Their quick and varied 
intonations, their rapid mode of enunciation, their graceful and 
most expressive gestures, singularly enchain the attention of the 
hearers, and impress upon them the substance of the discourse. 
The interpreter was a fine-looking man, large, well-formed, and with 
intelligence speaking in every feature. 

^th, — Doctor returned with E. from Kansas city. She will 
go with him to Lawrence, and he will return for us in a few days. 
We have some apples sent us from Kansas city. How fresh and 
nice they taste in these warm spring days ! I have been down to 
the creek, half a mile from the house, for water. The well here is 
nearly dry, and most of the water used in this large family is 
brought from the creek. With assistance I succeeded in bringing 
up a six-quart pail half full of water. A young married lady here, 
from Indiana, whose whole appearance gives evidence of unabated 
health, her lively ways bespeaking a rich fund of good nature, who 
said indeed " she never knew what it was to be tired," laughed 
merrily at us, that we have accomplished so great a feat. I enjoyed 
the laugh as much as she, and am quite sure that it borders a 
good deal upon the ridiculous to go half a mile for water, and get 
only three quarts. But one's strength is not equal always to their 
will, and carrying water is entirely novel business for me. 

11th. — Doctor left with E. this morning. Soon after they 
left we were attracted by the sound of carriage wheels, and looked 
out of the window to see what new comers had arrived. There 
was a hack stopping at the gate, and two ladies alighted. In de- 
scending the steps at the entrance one of them tripped her foot and 
fell. From the hearty welcome which the ladies received, we knew 
they must be friends, and we were soon introduced to them as the 
sister and daughter of Dr. Barker. The daughter has not seen 
this western home since her remembrance, her parents having 
taken her on to New England when she was a mere child, and this 
is her first return, now that she is "budding into womanhood." 
How strangely all things — this log house and perfect solitude 
everywhere, fresh as she is from the sympathies, the gayeties, the 
never-ceasing prattle of young school-girls — must look to her ! But 



i^"^ KANSAS. 

most singular of all to be a stranger in one's father's bouse, where 
the countenances of the youngest of the flock are unfamiliar. 
Mrs. B. is a person, the very first impression of whom will 
be that of her superiority, both mentally and morally, over most 
others ; and we feel that if the mother in this Indian country must 
commit her child to another's care, she acted wisely in giving it to 
her charge. Mrs. B. is seeking the boon of health in this 
change of residence. 

13tk. — One day here is like every other, save in an occasional 
change of faces around us, as the new comers arrive to take the 
places of others just leaving. We wrote, read, and walked out 
into the woods, or took a longer walk upon the prairie. The 
woods near here were full of gooseberries and grape vines. Bit- 
ter-sweet and running roses wound their tendrils upon the branches, 
and climbed high among the trees. The red berries of the bitter- 
sweet were still hanging on the vines. We have tried to call ujon 
an Indian family to-day. We followed the trail through the woods, 
succeeded in getting over a high fence which enclosed a large cul- 
tivated field in which the house stands, but found no one at home. 

14:th. — We have been expecting the doctor to-day to take us to 
Lawrence. After such a journey as this, westward, one will be content 
with bare comforts, and humble abodes, where there is quiet, and one 
feels it is really home. There is truly " no place like home." At 
evening some gentlemen, in from Lawrence, reported our house cut 
down, and the workmen ordered to stop building, by Dr. Wood, a 
man notorious for the disturbances he has occasioned in Lawrence. 

15^^. — Doctor arrived at the mission in the early evening, and 
corroborates the statement of the others. During his temporary 
absence from Lawrence, on the 13th, Dr. Wood and other choice 
spirits, armed with revolvers, went up to the house, and, after com- 
manding the workmen to leave, commenced to cut off the timbers 
with an axe. The workmen, save the gentleman who had the 
work in charge, ceased their labor, saying they would do so until 
the doctor's return. These pro-slavery men were determined he 
should have no house there, although, for a long time, he had held 
the claim by another building ; but, in his absence from the terri- 
tory, one of tkese men attempted to "jump the claim." The next 



EASTERN EMIGRATION — BORDER MEN. 33 

morning, the doctor went to the house, and the workmen returned to 
their labor. While at the house, he met Dr. Wood, who had gone 
out of Lawrence, swearing that " one of them had got to die that 
morning." He was, however, very quiet and peaceable. Doctor 
told him, " he should protect the house, but he could attempt to 
take it down any time he pleased." 

IQth. — We went to Kansas city this morning, and made such 
purchases as we feared we might not be able to make at Lawrence. 
We met some very pleasant people, who were going to find a 
home in the territory, and returned to the mission at evening. 

17tk. — We leave for Lawrence this morning. I have just been 
into the woods, after some rose and gooseberry bushes, not knowing 
whether I can get them near Lawrence. The horse is lame, having 
stood where the wind blew on him during the night. At about nine 
o'clock our buggy was packed, and we also packed into it, and a car- 
riage never held more or greater variety. There was one valise, 
three carpet-bags, baskets of crockery, umbrellas, cloaks, bundles, 
stone pitcher, and a small basket of crackers and gingernuts. And 
in the midst of all this " plunder," as the western people say, 
three of us were seated, two ladies in front, and the doctor behind. 
But after being thus packed, with geometrical precision, that no 
square inch of space should be lost, we attempted to start. The 
horse proved in such condition that we proposed walking, and giv- 
ing him a ride. However, after a mile or two of snail-like progress, 
my husband walking, and raising the horse's spirit by the cheerful 
tones of his voice, we began again to cherish hopes of reaching 
Lawrence, which we had been brought to the point of relinquish- 
ing altogether. 

We passed the Quaker Mission a little distant from the road, 
and the peach-trees all about it gave it a cheerful look. Our 
road lies over the high and rolling prairie, and never was fairer 
picture hung out between earth and heaven to feast the eyes of 
nature's lovers. The sky was cloudless and blue as ocean. The 
air was fragrant with the perfume of apple, plum and grape blos- 
soms, which grew in clumps by the wayside, wherever we passed 
through small groves. Emerging from these, some new phase of 
scenery would cause new expressions of delig;ht. Sometimes we 



34 KANSAS. 

would seem to be on the very height of the land, prairies stretch- 
ing in all directions, noble forests marking the line of the rivers 
and creeks, while the mounds far away in the distance formed a 
complete amphitheatre. 

At another time we would be passing rapidly into what seemed 
to be the cultivated grounds of some private mansion, over a 
smooth lawn, where the tall oaks and walnuts were grouped in 
admirable arrangement, and with such artistic beauty, in many 
places, that it was dij0&cult to realize that art had done nothing 
here, but nature all. At one or two places we passed ledges, 
where, upon the highest points, the stones were laid up in walls 
as regularly as if laid by stone-masons. There were deep ravines 
also, to be crossed, which test the strength of one's nerves some- 
what. These are skirted with graceful trees, while the water in 
their pebbly beds is limpid and clear. Just beyond one of these, 
with the green branches interwoven above us to shut out the sun- 
beams, we rested, and dined as best we might on crackers and 
apples, which an acquaintance gave us, who was baiting his horse 
at the same spot, while ours nibbled his grass with a most satis- 
fied look at the base of a tree. A large emigrant wagon was 
broken down near us, and their exertions to right matters for 
the rest of the journey, as well as their gypsy-like appearance in 
camp, added not a little to the interest of the half hour. The 
friend we had overtaken would be our co-traveller the rest of the 
way. Our afternoon's ride was similar to that of the morning, 
with the exception of more company. 

The stage, filled with young men, settlers just arrived, overtook 
us in the afternoon, and was sometimes ahead of us, and some- 
times in the rear, and the loud tones of the cheerful horn, fre- 
quently blown, awakened the musical echoes from prairie and 
dell. The prairie seemed higher, and for many miles at some 
points our vision was uninterrupted. A few isolated Indian huts 
were passed occasionally, and a grave of an Indian warrior, with 
the skull of his horse and dog still lying upon it. These were to 
accompany him in the hunting grounds of the Great Spirit. We 
reached the Wakarusa as the golden sunlight was fading, fast fad- 
ing, for we have no twilight here, no mountains behind which the 



EASTERN EMIGRATION — BORDER MEN. 35 

sun sinks, still shedding its lingering beams upon earth and sky. 
"VVe made our descent into the river's bed rapidly, for the bank is 
steep, and from a clear, gushing spring in the shadow of the trees 
overhanging the bank, quenched our thirst. A heavily-loaded 
wagon having reached the top of the opposite bank, and the horses 
proving refractory, has slid backwards into the river. It was no 
pleasant sight to us. However, we reached the top safely ; and 
there were still six miles between us and our destination, our new 
home in fair Kansas. We drove on as swiftly as stumps in every 
direction in the wood would allow ; the trees, which stood most 
nearly in the road, being cut down, leaving a foot or more of the 
base, which required a good deal of expertness to avoid. After I 
had come so near running over a tree, that the gallant steed bear- 
ing us had reason to discover which was the harder of the two, 
his head or the tree, the doctor took the ribbons, and guided us 
onward through the gathering shadows. We saw the lights from 
the dwellings in Franklin, as we passed. Another hour, and we 
were home ; yes, home, after a journey of near two thousand 
miles, and five weeks among strangers, sometimes pinched with 
cold, and sometimes suffocated with heat, crowded into dusty 
cars, and jostled at every turn ; tired, sick children, and worn 
out, impatient mothers everywhere. Give us fresh, pure air, cold 
water plenty, a shelter from the sun and rain, and we will call it 
home, and soon gather around us home comforts and home joys 
enough to verify the truth, that the purest joys left of Eden are 
found under the home roof. 



OHAPTEE IV. 

LAWRENCE. 

Last evening we saw a liglit, which my husband said must be from 
our house, while we were three or four miles distance. On arriv- 
ing, we found our trunks, furniture and bedding, had been carried 
to it. Although the first work done upon the house was upon the 
Friday before, after taking supper down street, we preferred going 
to it to stopping elsewhere. One room was clapboarded within a 
foot of the chamber-floor, loose boards were laid over the joists 
above to keep out the rains or ftilling dews. The windows were 
also similarly protected upon each side, while at the front the 
glass was set. There were mattresses laid upon the floor and 
upon the lounge, while upon the table a candle was bui-ning, sup- 
ported by a candlestick of entirely new invention, being a little 
block, perhaps three or four inches square, with four nails driven 
in to support the candle. A broom had also been provided, and 
a brimming pail of cold water. Blessings on him who was thus 
thoughtful of our comfort ! By nailing a buffalo-robe at the door- 
way, and arranging some articles of bedding upon chairs, out of 
one room we made two for the night. Sleep was never sweeter 
or more refreshing than last night, after a long drive, with the 
thermometer standing at one hundred- degrees. 

Was awakened early this morning by a noise around the house, 
and, looking through a crack in the temporary partition, saw a 
cow very demurely examining the premises, having stationed her- 
self in the quarter which will soon be dignified with the name 
of dining-room. My anxiety was considerably relieved, as my 
thought on awaking was, that we were visited by the same house- 
destroyers as a few days previous. 



LAWRENCE. 37 

"When we came to look out upon Lawrence and the surround- 
ing country, as we had nearly run through the vocabulary finding 
words to express our rapture at the ever-changing beauty of every 
part of our route, and as this view from our window, and from 
the hill beyond us, was the master-piece, silence expressed most 
truly our feelings, stirred as they were by a divine hand. The 
house fronts the east, and is situated upon an elevation command- 
ing a prospect unequalled for extent, or variety of loveliness, for 
miles in all directions. Half a mile to the north sits Lawrence, 
a little hamlet upon the prairie, whose fame has even now crossed 
the continent, awakening hopes and fears, in the hearts of many, 
for friends who for six months have battled with pioneer life. 
Malignity and hatred have been aroused in the souls of others, 
who see in this little gathering of dwellings of wood, thatch, 
and mud hovels, the promise of a new state, glorious in its 
future. 

The town reaches to the river, whose further shore is skirted 
with a line of beautiful timber, while beyond all rises the Dela- 
ware lands, which in the distance have all the appearance of 
cultivated fields and orchards, and form a back-ground to the pic- 
ture of singular loveliness. To the eastward the prairie stretches 
away eight or ten miles, and we can scarcely help believing that the 
ocean lies beyond the low range of hills meeting the horizon. The 
line of travel from the east, or from Kansas city, passes into the 
territory by this way. Blue Mound rises in the south-east, and, 
with the shadows resting over it, looks green and velvety. A line 
of timber between us and Blue Mound marks the course of the 
Wakarusa, while beyond the eye rests upon a country diversified 
in surface, sloping hills, finely rolling prairies, and timbered creeks. 
A half mile to the south of us, Mount Oread, upon which our 
house stands, becomes yet more elevated, and over the top of it 
passes the great California road. West of us also is a high hill, 
a half mile in the distance, with a beautiful valley lying between, 
while to the north-west there is the most delightful mingling 
together of hill, valley, prairie, woodland and river. As far as 
the eye rests, we see the humble dwellings of the pioneer, with 
other improTements. 
4 



38 KANSAS. 

19th. — A dark, dull day ; almost raining. We sit witli cloaks 
and bonnet on to keep warm, and sow a little. Have some calls. 
We walk to the door occasionally, — which will, when hung, open 
into the other room, — forgetting it will not open at one's bidding 
now. It is cramped up to stay in one room always, though, as I 
hoped before leaving Massachusetts, we "have out-of-doors a 
plenty." Doctor brings from town our dinner, to save our 
going down. It consists of slices of cold ham, cookies and 
doughnuts. We laugh at him because he brought no bread, 
which is worth more than all. 

20th. — A slight rain to-day. The flowers are springing all 
over the hill-side ; purple and straw-color being the prevailing 
colors. A little lilac-colored flower, of fern-leaf variety, fragile 
and beautiful, grows under every step, and yellow flowers, resem- 
bling lupine, are everywhere. The hammering, the continual 
pounding of a dozen workmen is confnsing, and we walk out upon 
the brow of the hill for quiet and rest. How lovely nature has 
made this Kansas valley, and yet it seems as if, from a full lap of 
treasured gems, she had poured out the fairest here ! More ham 
and cake to-day, — no bread. Our merriment over it will aid 
digestion, even though it be cake and ham. 

21st. — The floor in the dining-room is laid. The windows are 
in. The door between the rooms is taken away, and the stove is 
set, with the pipe out of the window, after the true pioneer fash- 
ion. The stove, however, will put one's ingenuity to work in 
using, it being second-hand. Having been used six months in a 
boarding-house, not the most carefully, the furniture is minus : 
and what there is, is of unknown use to me. There is one large 
iron boiler, which would cover the whole front of the stove, one 
broken gridiron, one large dripping-pan, two tin boilers holding 
sis or eight quarts, one of which, near the top, has a nose — the 
other, close to the bottom, has a spout. The furniture, which is 
the minus quantity, are iron kettles, tea-kettle, spider, shovel and 
tongs. However, we get supper, stew apples, — brought from 
Massachusetts, — and have biscuits without butter. It is a real 
Graham supper, with cold water. Provisions are scarce. 

22d. — The old Westminster catechism allows works of neces- 



LAWRENCE. 39 

sity and mercy to be clone on the Sabbath day, and we baked 
some pies ; but had breakfast of simple griddle cakes with syrup, 
made of sugar and water. Even the shade of Sylvester Graham 
might have looked on approvingly. We are in danger of no in- 
termittents from clogged liver at present. So far, so good. We 
read and write all day. Just at evening walked on the hill above, 
near the first camping-ground. A gentleman and lady from Mas- 
sachusetts came in. They live not very flir from us. The lady, 
with a large family of boarders, seventeen in all, in one little room, 
seemed disheartened. They had had some sickness, too They 
feel the change from comforts to privations. 

The slit-work for the stairway is set, and we are anticipating 
the time when we can get into the second story. How our friends 
in the East would pity us, did they know just how we live ; but I 
dare say there is not one in a hundred of them who enjoys the half 
we do. We are deprived of no comforts, that is, of anything 
essential to our happiness ; for, coming to the real root of the 
matter, every one will find that the externals have but little to do 
with a person's real enjoyment. We have the pure, fresh air, in 
abundance ; we have fine, even spirits, and we feel that to live, to 
breathe in such a country, is a joy, especially on a day like this. 

" Under the liill where the sun shines dimmer. 
Shrunk from the eager beam, 
The work goes on with a fitful glimmer, 
And music for a dream. 

" Over the groves and moistened meadows 
The steady gray hawks wing, 
And down below in the shifting shadows 
The merry small birds sing." 

A gentleman from Philadelphia, of most polished manners and 
brilliant address, is here to-night. 

24^A. — Doctor returned last night, after we had retired to 
rest. The town was full, and his friend returned with him. Doc- 
tor made a bed, that is, laid down a bufi"alo robe on the floor, and, 
putting another at the door, formed a sleeping apartment of the 
kitchen and dining-room, _pro tern. He was missing before we 
awakened in the morning. 



40 KANSAb. 

We can get no butter, no syrn-p, no milk, no potatoes. There 
is an abundance of nothing save cheese, beef, ham, and sugar. We 
made doughnuts, and after a consultation fried them in a two- 
quart tin upon the top of the stove. The smoke of the fire seems 
to have some strange attraction into the room, and E. and I take 
turns going out upon the staging to turn the pipe, with like suc- 
cess each time, not being able to move it at all. However, as the 
smoke poured out more and more with every extra whiff of the 
wind, and promised to add a seasoning to our cooking which we 
had not intended, we went each time to test our strength, hoping 
the emergency had brought an addition. Some strangers called, 
and, in a room sixteen feet by twelve, containing lounge, table, 
eight trunks, two dry goods' boxes, and chest, besides chairs, there 
was no extra room. 

2bth. — Doctor accompanied three other gentlemen upon a tour 
of discovery into the country two or three hundred miles. They 
will be gone ten days. They dined with us before leaving. They 
are used to the simplicity of Kansas fare at present, else 1 would 
have been embarrassed in setting it before them. An old gentle- 
man will do errands and take care of everything in doctor's ab- 
sence. We hear the wolves howling at night, and the bells on the 
cattle that have an attachment for this hill keep me awake. 

2Qtk. — A most delightful day. It seemed wicked not to gather 
new life and cull enjoyment from the bright skies and blooming 
prairies. Soon had the horse put into harness, and was bound- 
ing over them. We wanted to call upon a friend, who was of our 
party, from Massachusetts. We could see her house plainly from 
ours, but took the wrong road when nearly there. 

We came upon an abrupt ravine, and the young lady with me 
said she must get out. I tried to persuade her to remain — that 
I would take her safely over ; but my persuasions were useless, 
and she alighted. " Old Gray " and I went through it alone, all 
right. We soon, however, came upon a second ravine, where even 
he declined going. He said, as plainly as words could, that he 
would n't go ; but in a twinkling he started off a little to the right, 
and came upon another and more travelled road, where there was 
a bridge, rudely constructed, but safe. A few minutes more passed, 



LAWEENCE. 41 

and YJG met our friend at her little log cabin door. Everything 
looked comfortable, she was glad to see us, and we enjoyed our call 
much. We took a difierent route home, and found so many beau- 
tiful flowers, each one seeming more lovely than the last, that we 
hardly could be satisfied unless we gathered them all. 

'llth. — In the afternoon, horse and buggy were again put into 
requisition for a two miles' drive in search of the friend we met at 
the mission. She had lived nearly all her life in Boston, and was 
wholly unaccustomed to hardships, and unused to many things in 
domestic economy with which country people are familiar, al- 
though they may never have lent their own hands to the work. 
By instinct, almost, we found the cabin on the edge of a bluff, 
looking as if some high wind might take it over ; but the door 
opened upon a finely rolling prairie, dotted all over with flowers, 
which, in variety of color, vied with the rainbow. 

The cabin was of wood, and small, yet with bed nicely dressed 
in snowy linen, little table with white cover, upon which were placed 
a Chinese work-box and vase of flowers, easy-chairs, of home 
manufacture, just ready for the stufied covers ; a stranger would 
at once perceive that the presiding genius of all, fragile and 
slight, dressed in gingham of the smallest plaid, with linen collar, 
had come from far New England ; and, whether the home be 
humble or lofty, elegance and taste would bring out their treas- 
ures to make it pleasant. Her husband, a New Yorker by birth, 
by profession a lawyer, a poet, and musician, allured by the health- 
giving clearness of Kansas atmosphere, had sought and found that 
inestimable treasure. He came in while we were there ; had driven 
home a cow just purchased. It was decided, against my earnest 
protest, that she should be milked, and that I should carry the 
milk home with me. It was but four o'clock in the afternoon — an 
unusual time for milking, I was sure ; but they thought one time 
would do as well as another, and persisted in it, and I carried 
home the first milking, which proved much to my chagrin when I 
heard of it the last for that day. 

29if/^. — We attended church. How strangely everything ap- 
peared ! The hall where the meetings are held is in a two-storj' 
wooden building. It is simply boarded with cotton-wood, and that 
4^ 



42 KANSAS. 

to a iDerson in the country, is explanation sufficient of its whole 
appearance ; for the sun here soon curls the boards, every one 
shrinking from every other, leaving large cracks between. For a 
desk to support the gilded, morocco-covered Bible, sent to the 
Plymouth church, a rough box, turned endwise, and standing near 
one end of the hall, was used. The singers, with seraphine, were 
seated upon one side of the preacher, while upon the other side, 
also fronting the desk, were other seats — rough boards, used 
until the settees are finished. All this seemed rough and uncouth, 
and at the first moment we felt that two thousand miles lay be- 
tween us and the pleasant sanctuaries of our fathers, where they 
tread the aisles on soft carpets, listen to the word read from its 
resting-place of richest velvet, and to the pealing organ's deep, 
rich tones. But when we looked upon the pleasant faces around 
us, so familiar all in look, in manner, in attire, and the services 
commenced with the singing of hymns learned long ago, and we 
heard, in the persuasive, winning tones of the preacher, the same 
heavenly truths which will render one's life here as holy as else- 
where, let us so will it, we felt that New England was in our 
midst. We realized more fully the truth, which has been pervading 
our thoughts for many days, that " a man's life consisteth not in 
the abundance of the things which he possesseth." Happiness 
does not consist in the furnishings of the upholsterer. It may be 
as pure and unalloyed in " gypsy tent as in palace hall." Most of 
us have come to this far-away land, with a mission in our hearts, a 
mission to the dark-browed race, and hoping here to stay the surg- 
ing tide of slavery, to place that barrier which utters, in unmis- 
takable language, " Thus fiir shalt thou go, and no further." This 
unlocks our hearts to each other, and at once we recognize a friend 
actuated by like sympathies and hopes. 

At the Sabbath school many children were gathered, who en 
tered with zest into the exercises, while there were learners older 
in years, young mf-n, buoyant in the active life opening before 
them, and some with whom gray hairs were honorable. 



CHAPTER Y. 

KANSAS HOMES. 

Mrs, T., a young lady from Boston, is dead. Just one year 
from the day of her marriage she was attired for the grave. In 
this early spring, when nature is so beautiful in young leaves and 
opening buds, and full of promise, the hopes of the young hus- 
band are blasted. Earth and sky wear a pall. Slowly the mourn- 
ers wind through the prairie, and over the high hill beyond us, to 
the lowly cemetery. We all feel that death is indeed here. It 
has, with unerring aim, stricken down the young and beautiful. 
Tenderly we would offer sympathy, realizing well that •' every 
heart knoweth its own bitterness " in hours of bereavement, and 
shrinks from many words, though kindl}?- spoken. 

Death to us here, away from one's early friends, one's old home, 
has more than its usual significance, and the tidings of one laid 
low in our little settlement awakens a thoughtfulness and a ten- 
derness for the bereaved and heart-stricken, which in the old homes 
we felt not, save for a dear friend. We make their sorrow, their 
utter loneliness, our own. So different is it from the olden towns, 
where life is crowded, and if, in the bustle and jostling of each 
other, one now and then falls, the crowd presses on, and the gap 
closes. Here, there is a sad feeling for many and many a da}-, 
and we realize that changes as sudden may await us all. 

We have showers to-day, quick, pouring showers, and in the 
intervals the sunlight seems intense with its life-giving po\?ers. 
How nature is robing herself in the richest of green ! For hours 
I have U oked out upon her changing forms, with many crowding 
thoughts of home, of friends scattered all through New England 
dells and mountains — of friends passed onward into the spirit life, 



44 KANSAS. 

whose presence is at all times near me, but with peculiar vivid- 
ness to-day J of the duties of life, especially of those resting upon 
us in this age, when the spirit of liberty, of manliness even, is 
giving way before the increasing thirst for gold, which is the god 
of this country. I have watched the new and varied phase of 
those noble trees across the river. How the leaves grow ! How 
the rain-drops glitter like gems, as the sun, with clouds passed by, 
shines out brilliantly again ; and as the bow of promise spanned 
all, this thought, like it, was born of the sunshine and the shower. 

We are passing through hours of imminent danger to the liber- 
ties of the country. " The old landmarks have been removed," 
and " men have framed mischief by law." Yet, serenely above all 
these commotions, this treachery, this fraud of man, holding the 
seals of justice, sits God upon his throne. And out of all, in his 
own good time, he will again bring the reign of righteous men, and 
the laws of our country shall have for their basis love and truth. 
Give us courage to act when the hour calls for action, and faith 
to wait when endurance is our cross. We in Kansas can see with 
clear vision the workings of this hydra-headed monster, whose seat 
is at Washington, and whose power emanates therefrom, and whose 
unholy name is Human Slavery. 

May 2d. — " Old Gray " is lent to a friend to-day ; so we lose 
our intended ride. Mr. S. brings us a basket of eggs from the Dela- 
ware country. We are beginning to get more articles which seemed 
essential in house-keeping at home, but which are difficult to get 
here, as many people are ready to take them the moment they are 
brought in. Many of the new comers neglect to provide them- 
selves with the staples of life at Kansas city ; so, as soon as flour 
and groceries are brought in here, they take them back into the 
country, leaving us a continual dearth. Somehow, by the happy 
genius of invention, of which long ago necessity was acknowl- 
edged the mother, we have always had enough of the good things 
of this life, and have most faithfully followed the last clause of 
the injunction which the rich man in Scripture lays to his soul, 
" eat, drink, and he merrijP 

Mr. W., the old gentleman who acts for us in the capacity of 
prime minister of all work about the house, in the occasional 



KANSAS HOMES. 45 

absence — I might more truthfully say occasional presence at 
home — of my husband, croaks a good deal, that we "will have 
a famine in the autumn — that starvation will drive us far from 
the country, because, forsooth, to-day there is no flour in town. 
It seems to me quite probable, while flour is plenty in Mis- 
souri at three and a half dollars per sack, and sells here at six 
and a half, that the Missourians will bring it over; not so 
much out of friendly regard for us, " poor Massachusetts pau- 
pers," as of interested feeling for their pockets. In that at 
least I have implicit trust. E. goes on an exploring expedition 
for yeast, and is successful in getting some which looks neither 
" lively" nor clean. Indeed, it looks as though some very strong 
chemical action must be brought to bear upon it, in order to 
raise good bread. 

M. — Towards night was glad to welcome to our house a 
young lady, also a fellow-traveller upon the river. The family 
with whom she travelled are exceedingly fine people. They are 
intending to settle at Manhattan, upon the Big Blue, seventy-five 
or one hundred miles from here. The country there is called by 
many more beautiful than this, yet they v/ho go there must pos- 
sess courage beyond mine to live so far from any steam line of 
communication with the states. 

Like most Kansas emigrants, this young lady and her friends 
have tasted the hardships of pioneer life. On leaving Kansas 
city three days since, and getting out of town a short distance, 
their horses became entirely unmanageable. Notwithstanding 
the depth of the mud, owing to the recent heavy showers, the 
ladies were set out into it, and for quite a distance carried the 
children in their arms. The efibrt being inefiectual towards fur- 
ther progress that night, they camped by the road-side and slept 
amid the dampness and falling rain. 

They have also been visited with sickness. While Mr. D., after 
great prostration, has recovered, the little one, the "pet lamb "of 
the flock, has "gone home," without tasting earth's trials, or 
breasting its stormy floods. 

4th. — I sent E. to my nearest neighbor's this morning for 
milk; without success, however. Among all these cows which 



46 KANSAS. 

are grazing over all the hills, reminding one continually of the 
sweet pictures of pastoral life, where the cattle feed upon a thou- 
sand hills, and the dwellers of the land make their homes in tents, 
it seems strange that milk is so difficult to procure. E. finds 
more .acquaintances at Mr. S.'s, and they too are "passing under 
the rod." The wing of the dark angel is hovering near to bear 
away the little child, whose pallor now rivals the linen which the 
wan cheek presses. 

We go out to ride over these glorious old prairies, where till 
now the moccasined foot of the Indian has alone pressed the 
soil. We called for a friend, and rode several miles. How I 
have longed for my eastern friends to be with me in such pleas- 
ure-drives as these, that I might hear their bursts of enthusiasm 
at sight of this world where nature has been prodigal, or 
their exclamations of fear as we approach some deep ravine 
lying between us and the fairy land beyond ! Flowers of every 
shade of color, and every variety of form, would entice us be- 
yond the bounds, and my assurance of safe passage over would 
calm their fears. Tame to them as to me would seem the every- 
day dull routine of conventional life, its old beaten track of 
set forms and ceremonies, from which if one deviates, criticism, 
the stern censor of society, labels him as odd, eccentric, simple, 
or independent. Freedom is a blessed thing, and thrice blessed 
is freedom of will, freedom of intellect, freedom of action. 

The little wan child is dead. The measles have been fatal 
here beyond all experience. The bereaved sister will stay with 
us to-night. 

5f A. — I rose early this morning. As I reached the dining- 
room, with my foot on the last stair, a movement at the door, a 
rustling attracts my attention. The buffiilo robe is pulled away, 
and a familiar face fills the small gap. After little ceremony I 
run to tell E. that her father has come — just from Massachusetts 
and home. How the questions crowd upon him, and how 
strangely it seems to us that, in the two months of our absence 
from Fitchburg, something of greater moment has not happened ! 
While we have been passing through new scenes, continually 
meeting people from all parts of the Union, with their pecu- 



KANSAS HOMES. 47 

liarities awakening an interest in us, and giving zest tc their con- 
versation, each day varied with some new incident, we are look- 
ing for something new and strange from home. 

Some ladies from Massachusetts soon call. One of them came 
with the second New England company, and has been through the 
heats of the day. They brought a bouquet, which for beauty 
would compare favorably with any green-house collection. As 
they pranced their horses gayly from the door, and over the table 
land between us and the brow of the hill north, nothing could 
have looked finer. 

The evening shadows fall, another week is at an end, and seated 
around the table we are writing to home friends, when there is a 
new rattling at the rickety door-step, and, almost before we can 
turn to see, doctor comes in under the buffalo robe. He has been 
just ten days from home. The pleasant light shining from the 
windows gave him, in advance of us, a glad welcome. They had 
been two hundred miles back in the country, and there as here 
a most delightful region invites settlement. 

Qth. — Exclamations of delight from E.'s room called me early 
from mine. Words poorly convey an idea of the exceeding beauty 
of the scene. A mist was slowly ascending from the river. 
The sun, in a chariot of fire, was mounting upwards from a bed 
of golden clouds, and his beams encircled earth, air and sky, in a 
halo of glory ; the mists still rising became a silver sheen, through 
which the foliage on the further bank lookdd yet more green and 
brilliant. It was a beautiful harbinger of the Sabbath morning, 
which to man brings peace and quiet here, and ofiers glory in the 
unending ages. The quiet of the day is most grateful. Before 
time for service, Mr. P. came in from " Fisk's," nine miles from 
here, in the Shawnee Keserve. We attended church and Sabbath 
school. In the evening sang Whittier's gem of a Kansas song. 
Some beautiful bouquets were passed in at the door. They were 
fairy gifts, the giver remaining unseen. 

*Jth. — The grass is getting so high, and we are so far from the 
road, Mr. W. spends a long forenoon in beating down the grass, 
and making a wide path. We ride out again to see our Boston 
friend. She had been trying to churn, with the cream in a large 



48 KANSAS. 

tin pail, and a large square place cut in the cover for the dasher. 
She churned, and her husband churned, until thej were both weary, 
and of the opinion that country life has its cares as well as pleas- 
ures. A new thought came to the gentleman — he had seen 
some one pour in cold water to facilitate the butter-making, as it 
oegan to look like coming. No sooner thought, than acted upon ; 
but the butter, alas ! remained cream in static quo. The day be- 
fore, a large rattlesnake, attracted by the genial warmth near the 
stove, had, without waiting for invitation, or being assured of a 
welcome, crawled in throuo;h a huo'e crack, and stretched out his 
three feet of length. With a scream or two on the part of the 
lady, and some dexterous and telling blows by a stronger arm, his 
snakeship was rendered harmless, though a most ugly object. I 
noticed a bottle of medicine on the little white-covered table, 
and over it pinned upon the wall a recipe for rattlesnake bites, 
and a sure cure. 

Upon our leaving, my friend was determined to share with me 
the unfortunate cream. So, with one six-quart pail of cream, 
and another of milk, and a pretty bunch of flowers, we started 
for home. It was no easy matter to carry such full measures 
.vithout spilling ; but, by very careful driving down the hills, the 
friend with me carrying one pail while we steadied the other in 
the bottom of the wagon, we reached Lawrence in safety. 

'$>th. — I wanted to boil eggs at noon, but, as many times before, 
when proposing to cook something new, a dilemma arose. This 
time it came in the lack of a kettle to be used. Doctor's expe- 
rience in roughing it in California was again useful, and upon his 
suggestion the eggs came out of the copper boiler properly cooked. 
A gentleman in at dinner spoke of some beautiful straw-colored 
flowers he had seen on the hill above us. E. and I started off", 
after dinner, with shovel in hand, to get some for transplanting. 
We went half a mile, and found a number of very beautiful 
bunches, but, after persevering efforts, were obliged to leave them, 
their firmly-set roots still clinging to the soil. We took up a few 
rose-bushes to set about the house. 

Among the stones down the side of the ledge, a little blue 
flower, with lily-like leaf, looked out temptingly ; and carefully, be- 



KANSAS HOMES. 49 

ing most tearful of a fall, I clambered clown, and was paid for all 
my trouble, all my labor in working upon roots I could not re- 
move, in the realization of the fact that one of our garden favor- 
ites, the graceful spiderwort, grows wild here. 

The house is full of company this evening, and, with the open 
partitions, there is no quiet anywhere. Dr. C, a practising phy- 
sician here, who came from Georgia recently, and his brother-in- 
law, just arrived, are the last who call. They are very gentle- 
manly men, of northern birth, education and intelligence, with 
southern ease of manner. Very many of this class of people 
are looking to Kansas for a home — a home free from the curse, 
the blighting mildew of slavery, with genial climate, and the 
intercourse of enlightened, refined people surrounded by the insti- 
tutions of free labor. 

9^/^. — Our stove smoked terribly. We moved it from the west to 
the south window before noon, and, as the wind changed before night, 
returned it to its old place. Mr. Gr. dug up for us some of the 
straw-colored flowers, which must be a variety of evening primrose. 

lOtk. — Doctor went to Topeka. We moved the dressing bureau 
up stairs, which until now has served us for a cupboard. We 
cut prairie hay, and put. down carpet in front room. A young 
lady, who came to the territory in the autumn, called. She has 
enjoyed life here very much. Our new book-case was brought up at 
evening. It is of black walnut, of Kansas manufacture, and very 
pretty. E. and I spent the whole evening arranging books. 

lltk. — We hung pictures and engravings on the unfinished 
walls, and the parlor really begins to have a pleasant look. Doctor 
came home. He says we have something new every time he goes 
away, and he proposed to stay altogether, that we may get all 
things in order. The truth is, when he is at home, the house is 
at all hours full of company, and we are busily employed in look- 
ing after their physical wants. There is seldom a meal that 
we have only our own family of five, and, more often than other- 
wise, the strangers number more than we. 

12tk. — A most curious fish was sent in from Topeka to-day. 
It has a long, projecting, sword-shaped upper jaw, and no lower 
jaw, — the mouth being an opening in the under side of the upper 
5 



50 KANSAS. 

one. After being stufifed, it will be sent to Boston. A lady 
from Maine, who has been located on the hill west of us for a 
week or two, calls to say thej have concluded to leave Kansas. 
Her husband is much pleased with the country, but the mills do 
not supply all the lumber people want just now, and he thinks he 
can't wait. A good deal of lumber has been sawed, but as we 
remember that the claims for ten miles around Lawrence are all 
taken, and that they depend upon the mill here for lumber, we 
can easily see that there must be a scarcity, and that each person 
must be content with little for the time being. 

ISth. — I attended a Sabbath school to-day, four miles out on 
the California road. There were quite a number of children pres- 
ent, with some older persons. Some little English girls were very 
bright and interesting. The family at whose house the school was 
held are from Ohio. They are such good' people that one feels 
it in their presence, and sincerity and unselfishness are manifested 
in their actions. They have long been earnest workers in the 
cause of humanity — have "fed the hungry, clothed the naked," 
and given the " cup of cold water " to the fainting soul. I at- 
tempted to hear a class of girls, whose ages varied from fourteen 
to eighteen, recite. They were all from the "W^est, and mostly from 
Missouri. Some of them were bright, quick girls, but with one 
or two I puzzled my brain to know how to ask questions simply 
enough to be understood. They had no ideas of their own exist- 
ence or of God. 

14th. — The thunder rolls in deafening peals, reverberating 
across the hills, and the lightnings are one continual flash. There 
is not a moment that the forked, angry lightnings do not dart 
chain-like in every and all directions, making the whole country 
as light as noon-day. Objects miles distant are as clearly seen 
as by the sun's light. The rains come down a pouring, tumultu- 
ous flood, and the winds blow wildly, threatening to overturn 
everything before them. The house being so unfinished, the 
saddle-boards not yet on the roof, the staging still standing 
around it, with crockery covering tables in the dining-room, and 
no back door, my presence was needed in several places at the 
same moment. While attempting to move my bed so the rains 



KANSAS HOMES. 51 

would not float it off, there was a rattling of glass below stairs. 
As I reached the lower room, Mr. W. emerged from the other 
one, and asked, " Are you afraid the house will blow over ? " 

Upon my replying, " 0, no, I am not afraid of anything," he 
seemed satisfied, and as quickly disappeared. 

Concluding, from this present phase of the matter, I need expect 
no aid from my " prime minister," I went out and took down as 
much of the staging as I could — those pieces which were partly 
loose and striking the house. The shower lasted for hours. Al- 
though I have been among the Green Mountains when most severe 
showers raged there, and the reverberating roar was incessant, 
I never experienced anything equal in sublimity and grandeur 
to this. 

\hth, — The night brought another shower — if possible, more 
severe than that of last night. All the evening the lightning 
flashed in every direction ; but at midnight the thunders sounded, 
and the great drops fell. The grand artillery of heaven could 
hardly be distinguished from the noise of the furious blasts of 
wind and fast-flowing streams, which seem to scorn all old- 
fashioned showers. The shower came from the west, and there 
was nothing to break its force as it beat upon the house in full 
fury. There was a crash below. Hastily as possible I descended 
the stairway against the driving wind and pelting rain, which 
came full upon me the moment I stepped on to the staircase, 
almost taking away my breath. The door had been hung the day 
before ; but the slight button which fastened it together was like 
a flaxen string before the gale, and the door with great force had 
been driven back against the wall. It was impossible to remove so 
much crockery and glass ware, which, on account of the unfinished 
cupboard, was still standing round, to any secure place ; and it 
was but the work of a moment with me to " haul " a trunk of the 
largest size, filled with carpets, against the door after closing it. 
The next moment found trunk and me in the middle of the floor, 
and door again wide open. Another eflbrt must be made ; and, 
quicker than thought, or any calculations as to strength, the 
trunk was replaced, and a large black-walnut dining-table brought 
up against it. 



62 KANSAS. 

At this juncture of affairs, the old gentleman made his appear- 
ance ; and, after some casual remarks upon the weather, by way 
of suggestion, I spoke of adjusting the pipe, as it looked likely to 
fall. He looked at it rather suspiciously, though keeping at a 
safe distance from it, should some extra breath tottle it over, and, 
without comment, made good his retreat. I was amused, and 
pitied his fears ; then took down the pipe that it might occasion 
me no more thought. The storm lasted several hours, as on the 
previous night. It was quite impossible to shade one's eyes from 
the continual glare, and sleep came not until the morning shadows 
were breaking. 

16M. — One expected this morning to see some devastation — 
some remnant or vestige of the last night's work — ^but earth 
never put on a more smiling face. There was no evidence of the 
lightning's dread power, although often in the night there was an 
unmistakable sound of its striking near. Instead of the valleys 
being full of water, and the earth a perfect sea, its thirsty pores 
had drank in all, and naught remained to tell of it save the grass 
bending under its heavy weight of glistening rain-drops. 

For ten long months the drouth had been unprecedented. 
Many times a little cloud had arisen, awakening hopes of rain ; 
but the cloud had passed by. In any other country than this, 
vegetation would have been entirely killed, root and branch dried 
up ; but, before the rains came, even the gentle showers, the grass 
was clothing the naked earth in a mantle of greenness, and flow- 
ers, fairy-like in their gracefulness, were blooming in every shel- 
tered nook. Now the " windows of heaven were opened," as in 
old time. The rains came, and the winds blew. Earth was glad- 
dened in her vegetable life, and in her hidden springs. From 
many a dry spot, heretofore, the clear gushing waters came. 

17th. — A most glorious morning. How gayly all nature looks I 
The woods over in the Delaware country are clothed in every 
shade of green, from the most delicate to the deepest sea-green, 
while beautiful browns and blue are intermingled. Until now I 
have never longed for the artist's skill in conveying to canvas 
these living pictures of beauty by the master's hand — more beau- 
tiful than that of any earthly limner, inasmuch as the heavenly is 



KANSAS HOMES. 53 

above the earthly. Never until now have I revelled in such mani- 
fold and different shades of coloring, or felt so deeply my own 
insignificance beneath creative power. We admire, we worship, 
we adore, when His presence speaks in the loveliness of this Eden. 
TVe feel it in the voice of his thunders — in their unwritten mag- 
nificence and grandeur. 

Take a walk down to the town, and call upon one of our fellow- 
travellers. We find her in a little cabin of mud walls, cotton-wood 
roof, and with cloth covering the inside. It is tent-shaped, and 
very small. There is an earthy smell and a stifled feeling as I 
enter the low door ; and, as I at a glance see the want of comfort 
pervading all, I scarcely can find courage to ask how she likes 
Kansas. A bed, standing crosswise, fills up one entire end of the 
cabin, leaving only about eight feet square of space for the family, 
consisting of father, mother, and four little girls under six years. 
Two rough benches, about two feet in length, and two rude tables, 
make up the furniture. The cooking is done out of doors, after 
camp fashion. The children have been very ill, and the little one 
now tosses restlessly in its fevered dreams. 

I talk cheerfully of the homes we hope to have wh6n a few 
months are passed — of the comforts, the institutions, which we will 
gather around us ; but my heart is sad for the little, frail, heart- 
broken looking woman and her four little ones, and involuntarily 
my mind questions whether like cares shall make their young 
girlhood wear the look of age. I can bear no longer the oppres- 
sion, the feeling that the walls will come together, crushing 
me like a mere shadow between them ; and, with a promise to 
come again, breathe most thankfully the unconfined fresh air. 

The mail is in, and, in the office of a friend near by the post- 
office, we wait for its distribution. Letters from home are a 
pleasant reward. I met Mr. C, of Philadelphia, who says 
doctor has returned home with a carriage-load of company. There 
surely is no end to the company. The house now is full in every 
corner. I give up my room again, and make two extra beds on 
the floor. I am not yet rested from my journey, and the constant 
excitement since. Now there is an ungoverned, noisy child, — a 
continual presence, — and no quiet place in the house where I can 
5* 



54 KANSAS. 

find a safe retreat. Several more strangers were in in the even- 
ing. A gentleman, just arrived from Massachusetts, is very ill, 
and sends up for doctor's attendance upon him. Doctor brought 
from Missouri a jar of butter - — the first we have had — and some 
potatoes. 

19th. — A large carriage-load went down to the "Wakarusa to 
visit the proposed site of a new town. I enjoyed the quiet occa- 
sioned by their absence beyond measure, and realized more fully 
than ever the truth of the injunction : 

•' Be to thyself a palace, 
Else the world will be thy jail." 

They returned late in the evening, much pleased with the coun- 
try and scenery. Their adventures, in crossing the Wakarusa at 
high water, occasioned more merriment in the retrospect than in 
the moment when the water was coming into the carriage-body 
over the top. They were delayed an hour by the straying off of 
one of their party, which came near preventing their return that 
night, as the water was rising very fast. 

20th. — All went to church save E. and I, and the three-year- 
old boy, who intended to rule every one around him. A little 
decision proved very salutary with him, and we had a quiet morn- 
ing. As we were nearly through supper a whistle sounded. Each 
one of us looked at every other in blank astonishment, until some 
one said, "It is the cars." The thought of a boat occurred to me, 
and was quickly spoken. The table was vacated in a trice. Some 
were looking out of the windows and doors, while others ran to 
the chamber windows. A steamboat was really in sight, and a 
pretty object she was as she floated gracefully towards the landing, 
now behind this building, and now that, with the tall old forest 
for a background. A friend brings in some wild strawberries. 
How they bring back days long ago, when we knew where the 
sweetest grew, and, with merry school-friends, travelled far for 
them through the dim woods down into the meadow ! 

21st. — A bright May morning, clear and sunny, reminding one 
of the beautiful poem of Willis : 



KANSAS HOMES. 55 

*' The spring is here — the delicate-footed May — 
With its slight fingers full of leaves and flowers. 

And with it comes a thirst to be away, 
Wasting in wood-paths its voluptuous hours ; 

A feeling that is like a sense of wings, 

Restless to soar above its perishing things. ' ' 

The heat in the afternoon was equal to July weather at home, 
and the new jar of butter is fast approaching the fluid state. It 
has to be removed from one place to another, sometimes in the 
house, and sometimes on the shady side out of the house, to find 
the coolest place. We propose various ways for keeping it hard, 
such as digging a place in the ground large enough for the jar ; 
but, at the suggestion of one of the Boston gentlemen, who was 
interested in the matter, we decided upon the refrigerator as by 
far the greatest convenience. 

To-m-orrow is the day set for the election of representatives in 
the contested districts. We hear the Missourians are coming to 
take possession of the polls, as before. A party of horsemen rode 
in this afternoon over College Hill, west of us, and at first we 
thought the report of Missourians coming might be true. The 
gay blankets, bare heads, and shining ornaments, soon showed 
them to be a party of Kaw Indians. Mr. Simpson was assaulted 
to-day by a bitter pro-slavery man. 

22^. — Election day, and all was quiet. Only eleven pro- 
slavery votes polled in this district. A very pleasant lady from 
New York is spending the day. A young gentleman, one of our 
Kansas party, called. He has a claim on the Wakarusa, with 
which he is much pleased. Some families of his acquaintance, 
also of our party, are equally pleased. More gentlemen to tea. 
We boil ham for doctor, who will leave with three gentlemen on 
a pleasure trip, or exploring tour, into the country. 

2M. — Doctor left with his party on their prospecting journey 
this morning. It is quite an undertaking to get started on such 
an expedition, as they are obliged to take a good stock of provis- 
ions and cooking utensils, so that if their route takes them far 
from any settlers they will not be reduced to starvation. For 
such trips n«ually, we pack a ham, dried meat, hard bread, sugar, 



56 KANSAS. 

a bottle of syrup, cheese, a small box with knives, forks aud 
spoons, and little papers of pepper and salt. Tin cup for drink- 
ing, with canteens, are also indispensable. Blankets and comfort- 
ables for camping ought not to be forgotten ; also provisions for 
the horses. 

Our cupboard was completed to-day, and we have cleared all the 
tables of crockery. Our house gives promise now of being in 
reality a house at no distant day. 

24:th. — The timbers are drawn for the kitchen. AYe are to 
have another room sixteen feet by twelve, and with doors opening 
directly opposite each other. It will be delightful and cool. A 
large chest, which we have used for a cupboard since the removal 
of the bureau, is moved up the stairway, and finds a place just 
fitting it near the head. We find behind it a missing pie, whose 
sudden disappearance had been a mystery, and awakened some 
fears of the too neighborly inclinations of prairie wolves, or the 
nightly visitation of some hungry traveller ; our open doors and 
unfastened windows furnishing no safeguard against any who 
choose to enter. 

The roads for many days have been full of wagons — white- 
covered, emigrant wagons. We cannot look out of the windows 
without seeing a number, either upon the road through the prairie 
east of us, which comes in from Kansas city, where most emi- 
grants leave the boats and buy wagons and provisions for the 
journey, or, going on the hill west, on their way to Topeka, or 
other settlements above. 

The prairie, too, is alive with people, coming and going. Some 
xre upon horseback, and others in carriages of eastern manufac- 
ixe; while the busy teams, carrying stone for the hotel and 
other large buildings, give to the whole town an appearance of 
unprecedented thrift which renders the name of Yankee Town, 
bestowed upon it by the border friends, richly merited. At night 
we see the camp-fires all about us, on the prairies and in the 
ravines. The appearance of the men, preparing their evening 
meal, is singularly grotesque and gypsy-like. 

2Qtk. — Some young ladies called at the house early this morn- 
ing. They were just in %e territory from Ohio, and came up 



KANSAS HOMES. 57 

from town to admire the prospect from Mount Oread. We have 
similar calls almost daily, while frequently for hours there are 
persons sitting upon the brow of the hill beyond us. A few days 
since a rather young-looking man called. He was a clergyman, 
and had buried his wife not long before. He had come to Kansas 
with his children, the eldest of whom, a little girl of not more 
than ten summers, was his housekeeper. I have never heard of 
them since. 

We spend the day with a friend, two miles in the country, 
who sends a carriage for us. The hills on our way look like one 
vast garden. Elegant bunches of foxglove stand by the wayside, 
lifting most proudly their tall spikes of purple, lilac and white 
flowers, from a beautiful base of dark lustrous green leaves ; straw 
color, orange, and every variety of shade of pinks, from white to 
deepest red, add their blended beauty. Our road, after leaving 
the great California road, than which there was never a finer one, 
is uneven, and we pass several abrupt ravines. We see the 
house, or, more properly, the flume, a long time before reaching 
it, and are constantly expecting to be at the door ; but we have 
to learn, what every one else does in these prairies, that eyes un- 
accustomed cannot judge correctly of distances. 

We found the lady much excited, and glad of our arrival, as 
nhe had had some very unwelcome visitors in the absence of her 
husband. Being also half a mile from the nearest neighbor, ren- 
dered it yet more unpleasant. A large party of Kaw Indians 
had passed the house, while three of the stragglers made a call 
They examined daguerreotypes and jewelry lying on the book-case 
and by signs manifested their desire for them. The lady remained 
firm in her refusal, and they relinquished the idea of appropriat- 
ing them. They soon made signs for something to eat, and, after 
being most abundantly supplied with meat and bread, one of them, 
the most repulsive of all, made a cii'cle on the floor, and sign? of 
cutting it, then pointing to his mouth to represent his desire 
that a pie should be set before them. To comply with such re- 
quest being considered unnecessary, it was refused ; whereupon 
the young Indian pulled away a cloth, at one end of the room, 
concealing some shelves, and, with boisterous exclamations of 



58 KANSAS. 

delight, brought out some pies. Seating themselves around them, 
they were also soon devoured. When we arrived the visitors had 
scarcely left. 

The house, which, when finished, will contain two rooms on the 
lower floor, with an equal number upon the upper, is now only 
boarded upon one end, and partially upon the sides, enclosing one 
room, while the partition, which will be between the rooms when 
the whole outside is finished, but is now the only protection on 
the north, is partly of wood and partly of cloth ; the roof, also, 
is shingled over the south part. The cooking utensils and stove 
are out of doors. 

In such houses as these, exposed to all the vicissitudes of climate 
and weather, and all the discomforts of such a life, there is many 
a person fresh from all the elegancies, the refinements clustering 
about a home in our eastern cities. The most I have met bear 
these hardships cheerfully, and hopefully looking to the hour 
when Kansas shall come into the glorious sisterhood of states, 
herself untrammeled by the dark rule of slavery. These priva- 
tions seem naught in the anticipation of such an hour. This spot 
is a most delightful location for a house. The blufi's, in a semi- 
circular form, partially enclose a lovely prairie of quarter of a mile 
in width between them. The house stands near the centre, be- 
tween the northern and southern ridge, while the bluflf rises on the 
west very near the house. A lovely prairie stretches away nearly 
two miles eastward, with wood-skirted ravines, and Lawrence 
rising on an eminence beyond. Means alone are needed to make 
the grounds as beautiful as any one could desire ; and our friends 
who have chosen the spot for a Kansas home are revelling in 
golden anticipations for the future. 

We ride home as the sun is setting behind massive clouds in 
orange and violet, in fantastic shapes, resembling Chinese pagodas 
and temples. The mutterings of the thunder, when we are a little 
distance from home, warn us of the near approach of another 
shower, and by dint of much persuasion our friends remain with us 
during the night. 

21th. — A pleasant morning. The face of the earth looks 
oright after such a drenching. We laugh at my night adventure. 



KANSAS HOMES. 59 

I gave up my own room to my friends, and, hastily taking some 
bufililo robes from the wood-pile, made a bed of them, and of 
comforters upon the floor in E.'s room. Having been a little 
time asleep was awakened by a quick stinging pain in my hand, 
and the consequent thought of a rattlesnake. The dampness 
about the windows had ruined the matches which lay near, and I 
could strike no light from any of them. To aid me, however, it 
still occasionally lightened faintly, and I felt secure in walking 
over as much of the floor as would be revealed in the light; and 
slowly, every inch of the staircase being thus scrutinized that I 
might not step on any snake, if snake it was, I reached the dining- 
room and struck a light. Then I carefully shook every article 
composing my bed, hunted behind trunks and in every corner, 
and found nothing, though the pain in my hand continued the 
same. Just as I was preparing to blow out my light again, one 
of the girls, looking over the foot of the bedstead, says, " What are 
you doing ? " and was much amused at my reply, " I am hunt- 
ing rattlesnakes ! " 

The pain in my hand was probably the efiect of imagination, as 
we had been speaking of rattlesnakes the day before — of several 
houses where they had been found coiled up among the logs, and 
of one which very unceremoniously had crawled in between two 
persons occupying a bed in a tent. 

We went to the Sabbath school in the country with Mr. S. Near 
the close of the exercises the young man, H., who made the brutal at- 
tack upon Mr. S., a few days before, came in with four or five young 
men. If their faces were any index to their character, they were 
fitting companions for him. They seated themselves quietly, and 
ofi"ered no violence. If they came with such intentions, the circum- 
stances, or it is not impossible that the good in them for the time 
outweighed the evil, brutal nature, and prevented their execution. 

Towards evening we heard that Mr. Nute, the clergyman sent 
out by the Unitarian Association, would preach upon Capitol Hill, 
and we saw the people already gathering. The scene was im- 
pressive. The preacher stood while the audience sat upon rough 
seats and stones upon the summit of the hill. Earth had never 
spread out a fairer picture than this lying before us. At one 



60 KANSAS. 

glance the eye rested .pon river, forest, mountain and prairie, 
miles and miles distant as well as near, and the last rays of the 
setting sun shed a halo of glory over all. The novel circumstances 
under which we met were touched upon; our leaving the old 
homes among the eastern hills to find a new one in the "waiting 
West," and the hope which actuates one and all of seeing the 
same institutions flourish here, which make life desirable there. The 
protecting care and guidance of the same kind Parent are still over 
and around us. He provides for us this beautiful temple, " not 
made with hands," in which to worship him ; and if from our work 
here he calls us home, he offers heaven with its " eternal man- 
sions." 

Mr. N. was for some years the pastor of a dearly loved friend 
of mine, of whom she often spoke, and in this way he seems to 
me like an old friend. We are glad he has come among us 
with his genial sympathies, his heart warmth, his earnest ways, 
his outspoken words for truth, and his abiding love for free- 
dom and the right. We need such manliness among us, in this 
new, unsettled state of things ; such men, with unwearying confi- 
dence in God, and the humanity of men ; with whom the love for 
a distressed brother is more than one's faith in creeds, and whose 
faith is strong that in doing good to one's fellow we show our 
love to God. That men are born of the times is an old adage. 
That men, needed for the times, may arise ready for the work in 
Kansas, ministers as well as laymen, men of nerve, of principle, 
" wise as serpents, and harmless as doves," is our continual hope. 
Most propitious, as well as most disastrous, in its influences upon 
this territory, will be the effect of the institutions now planted 
here. 

SOth. — More rain has fallen to-day, though the clouds cleared 
away at noon. There has been no day yet, since we came, that 
the sun has not shone. The Sabbath school children from three 
schools are to have a celebration on the morrow. 

Death has again come into our little settlement, and taken one 
of its most loved, most useful members. Since my coming, the 
prattling infant, like the dying away of the summer wind, has 
faded and faV sn. The bride of a year, with her young hopes still 



KANSAS HOMES. 61 

fresh, still gayly looking into the future — earth's future — has 
passed beyond the unseen veil, and the praiiie grass waves over 
her. Ties of children, the unutterable love of a mother who would 
leave them orphans indeed, could not bribe the death-angel, and 
she too has entered the shadowy land. But now, the strong man, 
with the harness of duty on, has fallen at his post. Yesterday he 
was well as usual, and to-day he is not. It comes so suddenly 
upon us, we cannot realize that Dr. Clark is dead. 

Hard as it ever is to realize that death is more than a brief 
parting, that our friends will not return, until time and their 
long absence force the sad truth upon us, doubly so is it in this 
case, where but yesterday his patients shared his care. How sadly 
will this intelligence fall upon the ear of his brother, now absent 
on a tour in the territory ! With the stricken friends of his Mas- 
sachusetts home we can almost feel the shrinking heart, the over- 
powering oppression, the utter desolation of earth, as the missive 
bears to them the mournful intelligence. Earth has its thorny 
ways, and hedged about with sorrows. Among the saddest of 
them is for friends we loved so well to die in a far-off home, and 
we be not there. 

No one more than Dr. C. had the esteem, the love of the people, 
and their grief is heartfelt and sincere. 

There has been much sickness on the Wakarusa, and for many 
days the doctor had taken no rest. Last evening, at tea-time, he 
said he felt better than usual. He was soon after taken with the 
disease, which, owing to the exhausted state of his system, quickly 
ended in death. The procession is now winding over the hill to 
the place of graves. 
6 



CHAPTER YI. 

ILLS OF PIOXEER LIFE. 

June l^f.— The weather is as cold as that of an October morning 
in New England. The stove having been removed into the kitchen, 
as soon as the roof was on, we ate our breakfasts in a cold dining- 
room, with large shawls and cloaks drawn around us. The wind 
was rising, and, as we attempted to accomplish necessary work by 
the stove, we found it almost impossible to keep any heat in it. 
We attempted to nail up buffalo-robes to break the wind, but they 
came down as fast as we could put them up. Some gentlemen, on 
the hill beyond us, new comers, looking upon the beauty of the 
country, seeing our efforts, came to our assistance; but their 
labors in curbing the wind were as futile as ours, and we only 
had the exercise and sport of seeing our plans fail. We were 
kept awake a long time, last night, by the barking of the wolves. 
They make a shrill, quick bark, and, when a number are together, 
the sound is deafening. They are harmless, however, always run- 
ning from man. The most trouble they give us is in eating off 
the ropes with which we picquet out the horses at night. They 
eat them so smoothly as to look like being cut with a knife, and 
what we have occasionally thought must be charged upon emi- 
grants camping in the valley, in want of a rope, we find is wholly 
owing to the sharp teeth of the cayotes. Doctor returned yester- 
day from his tour west. Dr. P. heard of the death of his brother- 
in-law a few miles from here. 

^d. — The first communion Sabbath since I have been here. 
As the table is spread, and the few members gather around, the 
promise of the SaviDur, " where two or three are gathered together 
in my^name, there tvill I be in the midst of them," seems pecn- 



ILLS OF PIONEER LIFE. bd 

liarly significant and impressive. He knowetli those wlio seek to 
follow him, and with his strength will aid their weakness. We 
hide the promise in our hearts, with new lessons of humility, and 
go out from the " upper chambers," striving to learn aright the 
meek, suffering patience of Jesus, which will fit us to be his co- 
workers here. The gem of patience is among the greatest of the 
Christian virtues, and blessed is he who wears the jewel in his 
heart. 

3^. — Doctor has gone to a funeral some miles away. If he 
does not go himself, on all such occasions, his carriage does. The 
person now dead clung to her jewels. She wore bracelets, rings, 
etc., until her last breath. Life to her must have consisted in 
externals ; and a weary home Kansas must have been, with its 
cotton-wood, " shake " cabins, bare floors, and general dis- 
comfort. 

There has been a good deal of cholera a few miles from here, 
mostly among Missourians. They lived in most abject filth, and 
drank of the stagnant water in the bed of the Wakarusa, when 
the water was at the lowest, from ten months' drouth. One in- 
stance of sickness seems almost incredible among civilized people, 
but there is no doubt of its correctness. The father and mother 
were ill — very ill. The cabin was very small, untidy, and would 
of itself almost breed disease. Dr. C. proposed that the children, 
who were adults, should occupy a tent near by, for their own 
safety, and yet attend upon the sick. The next morning, what 
a sight met the kind physician's eyes, as he entered the cabin ! 
One of the parents was lying on the bed, dead ; the other was 
still living, though with little breath left. A little water was 
standing by the bed ; and no one had been in but once since the 
time of the doctor's leaving the day befoi-e. Thus forsaken of 
their children, they died. Such heartlessness, such barbarity, we 
can scarcely believe would exist among any people. 

Qith. — With a friend, who has been several days with me, I 
visited one of the early pioneers. She lived three months in a 
cloth tent, and now resides in a log house, which she renders pleas- 
ant, by lier tac^ hiding every rudeness. She talked gayly of their 



64 KANSAS. 

tent life, and we learned much of the roughness of pioneer life at 
the outset. 

We staid so long, that E. was fearful we were lost on the 
prairie, and was just about setting lights in the windows for our 
guidance, as we reached home. Getting lost on the prairie in the 
darkness is an easy matter ; and it has happen-ed here, several 
times, that persons have wandered around nearly all night, trying 
to find the town, when at no time they were more than half a mile 
from it. 

Hth, — Mr. H. was very ill with an attack of pleurisy. Doctor 
being absent, I felt anxious, yet did the best I could. A mustard 
plaster and some simples removed the difficulty of breathing, and 
he slept quietly. He said he never was as sick before, but I was 
thinking he imagined himself sicker than he was. Just before 
night, and as I was wondering where E. could be, she came in, 
pale and almost breathless, with just enough left of life to say, 
" 0, that rattlesnake ! " I laughed at her at first; but being 
convinced that seeing a snake of some kind was a reality to her, 
and not quite liking the idea of their making a home in our neigh- 
borhood, we started out with shovel and hatchet for a battle. The 
spot where she saw him was very easily found, as the pail she had 
in her hand, while coming up the path from the spring, she set 
down when she came upon him. She had heard a buzzing noise, 
like that made by a large grasshopper, for some minutes ; but her 
attention was attracted by a small bird flying backward and for- 
ward across the path, and no great height above it, and did not, 
therefore, perceive the snake until she was within a foot of him. 
Hastily setting down the pail, as he lay there coiled ready to 
spring, she took another path to the house. We looked along 
both paths, above and below, and far out on the hill-side, but 
found nothing. His fright was undoubtedly equal to E.'s, not 
being particularly partial to the cold bath she gave him in setting 
down her pail so hastily. 

^th. — Leave home early to spend the day with a sick friend ; 
find her quite ill, lying on a straw pallet on the floor. One 
small window and door, at the other end of the room, afforded all 
the air there was ; and about everything there was a general look 



ILLS OP PIONEER LIFE. 65 

of discomfort. Many a person in health has bravely battled with 
the ills and privations of Kansas life ; but when the pulse throbs 
with fevered heat, and disease is making a wreck of one's self and 
every energy, the mind turns sadly backward to the pleasant 
home, and yearns for the kind friends there with an irresistible 
longing. With baking for the family in the sun's glaring rays, 
and taking care of the invalid, I was weary, and thankful for our 
own home-roof, which has more of comfort. 

10th. — Was awakened by a little tree-toad on my pillow this 
morning. He must have climbed up the low roof of the ell part, 
and in at the window. I found a mouse in the tub, and a swallow 
came into the kitchen flapping his wings wildly, and seeming much 
frightened, as we were at breakfast. I am wondering if all the 
" four-footed beasts and creeping things " have appointed a place 
^f rendezvous upon our premises ; and suggest, laughingly, that 
"the rattlesnakes will come next." Scarcely had we finished 
breakfast, before the cry from near the wood-pile was, " Here 's a 
snake ! " It measured about eighteen inches in length, was ugly- 
looking, and had four rattles. 

The people are talking much of wha-t shall be done in view of 
the oppression forced upon us. Men armed with guns, revolvers, 
and bowie-knives, from another state, have carried the elections, 
driving the actual settlers from the polls with threats of certain 
death. A memorial, stating these facts, has been sent on to Con- 
gress ; but no relief comes — no promise of any. This Legislature 
soon proposes to hold its session, and enact laws for the people of 
this territory. They, many of them residents of Missouri, and all 
of them elected by Missouri votes, ignorant and brutal men, 
having gained their election at the point of the bowie-knife, intend 
to enact laws to govern an enlightened and intelligent people. The 
question is, shall the laws, whatever they may be, be boldly repu- 
diated as no laws for us, the makers being not of us; or shall the 
matter be delayed until the so-called Legislature meets ? A few 
days will decide the course to be pursued by our people ; and 
whatever is done will be done thoughtfully, and with a view to 
the greatest and most permanent good of the country. 

12th, — It rained gently all the morning. In the afternoon 



bb KANSAS. 

the clouds cleared away, and we took a pleasant tramp over the 
hills. We met a party of Indians. Scarcely a day passes that 
mjDtley groups of Delawares are not in our streets. Instead of 
going to Missouri for their groceries and clothing, as formerly, 
they come to Lawrence. They are very friendly, and look upon 
the rapid growth of the little town near them with as much appa- 
rent surprise as we would upon actual creations like the brain- 
pictures in fairy tales. 

Large stone buildings, w^hich would be an ornament to any 
place, are fast being erected, while buildings of humble preten- 
sions, of wood and stone, are springing up with a rapidity almost 
equalling the wonderful genius of Aladdin. We can count al- 
ready fifty dwellings erected since we came ; and the little city 
of less than a year's existence will, in intelligence, refinement, and 
moral worth, compare most favorably with many New England 
towns of six times its number of inhabitants. 
■ Many people were in, in the evening. The wind was blowing, 
and I heard a rustling near me. I looked, but saw nothing. An 
hour later, as I relinquished my seat, and went to make arrange- 
ments for extra beds, a gentleman very positively said, " I hear 
a rattlesnake." Near where I had been sitting, the yellow-spotted 
reptile had crawled in between the last floor-board and the siding, 
and already his head had reached the window-casing. We had 
serious objections to his further progress towards the chambers, 
or to his greater length of days. After a moment's more enven- 
omed rattling, all was still. Like the other, he had four rattles, 
and was undoubtedly looking for his lost mate. One of the 
gentlemen. Judge Conway, to w^hom the front room had been ap- 
propriated as a sleeping apartment, the mattresses being removed 
each morning, felt nervous about such companions for bed-fellows, 
and, to be prepared against the possible contingency of another 
similar visit, turned his boot-tops into one another upon retiring. 

15?A. — We heard at midnight the rapid approach of a horse- 
man, and soon the loud halloa, with a western brogue, sounded at 
the door. A friend was very ill with cholera, and " the doctor 
must go immediately over." He hunted up his horse on the hill- 
pide, and went, first sending to another physician down street to 



ILLS OF PIONEER LIFE. 67 

be there as quii.kly as possible, as he had no medicine. Friends 
in the East knew nothing of the evils which lie around the path 
of the new settler when sickness comes. Surrounded by the aids 
which science has brought to bear against disease, and by all the 
blessings of a thickly settled community, they cannot realize how 
death stares one in the face often in these isolated spots, when the 
case is urgent, and help far away. 

In this instance the husband had left home, early in the evening, 
to attend a meeting in Lawrence, some two miles distant, leaving 
with his wife, who was but just recovering from illness, a young 
friend. Over-exertion during the day had somewhat prostrated 
her, and now cramps and the most urgent symptoms of cholera 
came upon her with fearful severity. What could be done? 
They were a full half-mile from any neighbor. It was night, and 
there was no one to send for help. Every remedy which the 
house afforded was tried, with poor success, the patient losing 
courage with her loss of strength. At ten o'clock her husband 
returned, and, seeing at a glance the need of instant relief, started 
for a neighbor, who went for a physician. 

VI th. — The doctor brought up a nice side-saddle from town, 
and, upon my asking whose it was, he replied, "It is a present 
for Mrs. R." To my question, " From whom ? " he said, " From 
him who gets her the most of her things." 

" Old G-ray " was soon saddled, and I was on his back to find 
my way over the prairies to spend another day with sickness. 
Towards evening, as the horse was saddled, and I was ready to 
return home, we noticed some threatening clouds, and a shower 
just upon us. As it promised to be but slight, and of short dura- 
tion, I concluded to remain until it had passed, in preference to a 
drenching, and two miles' ride in it. The shower once commenced, 
there seemed no end to it; and, when an hour had passed away, 
the wind was still blowing in unabated fury, the rain falling in 
" rivers of waters," while there was one incessant peal and crash 
of thunders, and the whole heavens a perfect blaze of dazzling 
light. I abandoned all hope of seeing home that night ; and the 
question now was, how could we avoid being wet by the rain, 
which came boisterously in from the north ? For a while 1 ?at 



68 KANSAS. 

and read, in the corner most removed from tlie exposed side ; but 
the wind suddenly shifted, and by agility alone I escaped the 
deluge pouring in from the east. No place was now secure but 
the little corner where the straw pallet lay, with the sick lady, 
weak and nervous, tossing restlessly, and wishing the heavy 
shower would cease. To avoid cold and sickness, wrapping myself 
in blankets, I lay down upon the bed, which we supposed the rain 
would not reach. In all previous showers this had been the dry 
corner ; but the rains were searching. Soon, buffalo robe upon 
the bed, and umbrella spread over our heads, so arranged that 
the water should run off on to the floor, was our only protection. 
Yet we slept at last, wearied out by the furious raging of the 
elements, and hearing, as the last thing, the pattering rain-drops 
upon the umbrella. 

IStk. — The morning sun never shone more brightly than now. 
\Ye found everything in the house damp, but had taken no cold. 
The cholera patient was doing well. The gentleman of the house 
assured me he slept well, but it was a mystery to me where he 
found a dry nook. Had a fine ride home in the early morning 
light, which gives to every object a double value. " Old Gray " 
nibbled at the " compass plant," which always points northward 
in these prairies, occasionally cropping its bright yellow flowers 
with a satisfied air as he trotted along. The rattlesnake weed 
was also blooming in profusion. Nature is ever mindful of the 
needs of her children, and provides an antidote against the bane 
of rattlesnakes, and a sure guide over the wide prairie in the 
compass plant. When I reached home, found the doctor gone to 
attend upon a broken limb. A man, in rafting logs down the 
river, had met with this misfortune. The doctor has many calls 
professionally, and, though he assures them all that he is not now 
a practising physician, he looks in upon many to advise them. 

IQih. — It was just eleven and a half by the clock when a 
carriage-load drove up from Kansas city. "We completed our 
work at four, p. m. We had more company over night. We had 
arranged a cot bed to sleep on for the night in the dining-room, 
and I was just planning my morrow's work before I slept, when 
the window cane in with s frightful crash. With a quick spring, 



ILLS OF PIONEER LIFE. 69 

we avoided the effects of broken glass, which fell on the bed and 
all over the floor. The window was not permanently cased, and 
the heavy wind of the Monday night previous had loosened the 
nails. 

21st. — A gentleman, just up from Kansas city, brought me 
some letters which I had long expected, and which have been 
lying there for weeks. He brought intelligence also of String- 
fellow's attack upon Gov. Reeder for the maintenance of an honest 
opinion. Preparations are being made by our people to celebrate 
the coming Fourth of July. At this time, when Freedom is but 
a name; when three millions of human beings, created in the 
divine image, are sold as chattels in a country boasting of lib- 
erty ; when the two hundred thousand slaveholders are using 
every endeavor to enslave the twenty-five millions of our country- 
men, and we in Kansas already feel the iron heel of the oppressor, 
making us truly white slaves, — we will celebrate it by a new 
Declaration of our Independence, and in the God of our fathers 
trust that he will lead us safely through this Ked Sea of evil, until 
we plant our feet securely on freedom's bulwarks, having passed 
from this worse than Egyptian bondage. 

July 4:th. - — The morning of the Fourth came in cloudy, yet 
pleasant. Word had been sent to the people on the Wakarusa, and 
many were expected. Invitations also were sent to the Delaware 
and Shawnee Indians to mingle in our festivities. From the 
elevated position of our house we saw the people gathering from 
all quarters. Several teams, of oxen as well as horses, the 
roughness of the vehicles being hidden under garlands of green 
leaves and flowers, came in from the Wakarusa. A beautiful flag 
was presented by a Massachusetts lady to the military companies 
of Lawrence, in an appropriate speech, in behalf of the ladies of 
Lawrence. After its acceptance, the procession formed upon 
Massachusetts-street, and was escorted by the military to a fine 
grove about a mile from town. Here, in one of Nature's grand 
old forests, seats had been provided, and a platform raised for the 
orators and other speakers, for the singers and musical instru- 
ments. The number present was variously estimated from fifteen 
hundred to two thousand. It was a motley gathering. There 



70 KiNSA^ 

were many people with eastern dre^B and manner, and settlers 
from Missouri, and other far western states, no less distinctly 
marked by theirs. The Delawares and Shawnees added no little 
to the interest of the occasion. After the reading of the Decla- 
ration of Independence, whose embodied truths seemed to have 
gained new vitality, new force, since we last listened to it, came 
the oration. It was, for the most part, a gathering together of 
the opinions of southern men upon the vexed question of slavery. 
There were confessions as to the relative value of free and slave 
labor by some of their best educated men. There was a most 
perfect condemnation of the whole system from their own mouths. 
Then the question of our own position, in regard to the encroach- 
ments of a neighboring state, was touched upon, with the firm 
determination to assert our rights, and maintain them.* There 
were speeches, songs, and sentiments. We received friendly 
words of welcome from the chiefs of the Delawares and Shawnees. 



* The following is the conclusion of Dr. R.'s oration : 

" Fellow-citizens, in conclusion, it is for us to choose for ourselves, and 
for those who shall come after us, what institutions shall bless or curse our 
beautiful Kansas. Shall we have freedom for all the people, and consequent 
prosperity, or slavery for a part, with the blight and mildew inseparable 
from it ? Choose ye this day which you will serve, — Slavery or Freedom, 
— and then be true to your choice. If slavery is best for Kansas, then 
choose it ; but, if liberty, then choose that. 

" Let every man stand in his place, and acquit himself like a man who 
knows his rights, and, knowing, dares maintain them. Let us repudiate 
all laws enacted by foreign legislative bodies, or dictated by Judge Lynch, 
over the way. Tyrants are tyrants, and tyranny is tyranny, whether 
under the garb of law, or in opposition to it. So thought, and so acted, our 
ancestors ; and so let us think and act. We are not alone in this contest. 
The entire nation is agitated upon the question of our rights ; the spirit of 
'76 is breathing upon some ; the hand-writing upon the wall is being dis- 
cerned by others ; while the remainder the gods are evidently preparing 
for destruction. Every pulsation in Kansas vibrates to the remotest artery 
of the body politic ; and I seem to hear the millions of freemen, and the 
millions of bondmen, in our own land, the millions of tl^e oppressed in 
other lauds, the patriots and philanthropists of all countrief;, the spirits of 
the revolutionary heroes, and the voice of God, all saying to the people of 
Kansas, ' Do your duty ! ' " 



ILLS OF PIONEER LIFE 71 

They were glad to see us coming, not with the hatchet and sounds 
of war, but bringing with us the sweet fruits of peace and civil- 
ization. A long day was quickly passed — the first Fourth of 
July in Kansas celebrated by its white settlers. In the evening 
a party of about one hundred was gathered, to strengthen yet 
more the bonds of social feeling, in our largest hall, which serves 
the purpose of church, school-room, and hall for all political and 
social meetings. We had refreshments of cakes and ice-creams, 
and our house full, as usual, at night. 

bth. — A little child is dead. The family took the small-pox 
>vhile on the Missouri river, some two months since, and this child 
has never recovered from the effects of the disease. We carried 
a friend to her home on the prairie, and called for the minister to 
attend the funeral, leaving doctor asleep and alone. We heard 
at evening that Dr. Wood (who had previously attempted to cut 
down our house, and was afterwards appointed Probate Judge by 
the Shawnee Legislature — who was continually with the enemy at 
the time of the fall invasion, and in the crowd which attacked and 
killed Barber, and, since removing to Lecompton, procured the in- 
dictments for treason) was very angry about the oration on the 
fourth ; also young Andrews, a South Carolinian, and liquor-sel- 
ler. They both threatened that they would take the doctor's life ; 
but a person in this country soon gets accustomed to such asser- 
tions. They mean nothing when uttered by these men, and only 
prove their utter cowardice. They reported that the doctor was 
afraid to go down town, while in the simplicity of his heart he had 
been taking a most quiet nap upon the lounge, with windows and 
doors open, and alone in the house, not awaking, from the time I 
left for a two miles' drive, until my return. 

1th. — With a carriage-load of ladies I drove on to Dr. B.'s, 
four miles away. The last part of the way was rough and hilly, 
reminding one more of Massachusetts hills than anything I had 
seen since coming to Kansas. For a mile we made a gradual 
ascent up hills, which look so wondrously New England like, that 
we forgot we were strangers there. From tho house we took a 
tramp of half a mile down to the lake, and were well repaid for 
all our labor and fatigue of descending and climbing hills by the 



72 KANSAS. 

beautiful views continually meeting our eyes at every turn in the 
winding path. There were high, conical-shaped hills, bearing on 
their tops forest trees, with dense, thick foliage ; at the next mo- 
ment a little shady nook, with silvery rivulet murmuring over its 
pebbly bed, would peep upon one's sight. A high ledge, with a 
cool spring gushing from its side, and flowers overhanging it, came 
next. 

Our guide took longer steps than we, and seemed more used to 
travelling in the woods, for I had scarcely time to see all I wanted 
to, get over places dry-shod, and climb up the steep hills, before 
he would be far out of sight. However, if I kept the last strag- 
gling one of our party in view, I felt safe. When we all finally 
came together again, as they at last waited for me, our guide was 
coming from the lake with his hands full of most beautiful flowers. 
They were larger than a white pond-lily, and much more beauti- 
ful, with the same sweetness. The Indians call the flora " Yon- 
kopen," and they live, at some seasons, upon the seeds of the 
plant, of which there some eight or ten, of a nut-like appearance, 
in each seed-vessel. The Kaw Indian women often wade into the 
water for them as food. Dr. B. informed us there were enough 
in this little lake for the subsistence of six or seven families for 
weeks. 

Last night some of the gentlemen whose love for slavery waa 
outraged by the out-spoken words for freedom, uttered on the 
fourth, with guns and pistols, and many muttered threats of re 
venge, started from town to give us a call. Their discretion was 
probably greater than their valor, and it might be that the effort 
of climbing this hill would at least give time for the cooling of 
their rage. 

Wi. — Sunday we had company, but they all attended church. 
How I wish we could have one old-fashioned. New England Sun 
day, with the ringing of church bells to call us to service, and 
quiet at home ! We are full of company at all times, not except- 
ing even Sabbath day. We now have meetings every Sabbath at 
five o'clock, at the house, or, as the notice was given, " under the 
shadow of Dr. R.'s house." The ladies sit in the front room, the 



ILLS OE PIONEER LIFE. 73 

gentlemen outside on benches and in carriages, while the preacher 
stands in the doorway. 

" Old Gray " was an attentive listener to-night. Just after the 
beginning of the service he came around the north side of the 
house, and took his station close by the speakers, where he re- 
mained until the last prayer was said, when he as quietly walked 
away. 

10^^. — Yesterday the doctor, Mr. L., and G., went down 
to Kansas, stopping at Shawnee Mission and Westport. A gentle- 
man at the former place, a pro-slavery resident of Lawrence, said 
to G., "Is the doctor going to Westport ? " 

Upon his replying in the affirmative, the gentleman said, " They 
are going to hang him there." 

With characteristic naivete G. replied, " Is that all ? " and his 
informant, turning on his heel, walked away. 

The doctor, after looking in upon the grave legislators who hold 
their sessions at the Shawnee Mission School, but who ride over 
and back in omnibuses from their homes in Westport, to his sat- 
isfaction, pursued his way to Kansas city. There, friends informed 
him that Dr. Wood had been there attempting to arouse the bit- 
terness of the pro-slavery men against him ; that they might offer 
him some violence. Having completed his business at that place, 
he came again by Westport on the following day, stopping, as be- 
fore, at the mission. He saw Dr. Wood there, who was complain- 
ing that the stage for Lawrence had gone, and he had no mode of 
conveyance home. The doctor said to him, " Here is a seat in my 
carriage, if you like ; " at the same time jocosely adding, " but we 
may get to fighting." 

To which the dignified Dr. Wood offered no reply, though his 
hand seemed to have a strange affinity to something in his coat 
pocket. The doctor came on to Lawrence without fear or molesta- 
tion, and wholly alone. 

Vdth. — AYe rode into the country some miles, to dine. We 
had vegetables, peas, etc., with pumpkin pies for the second course. 
They were veritable pumpkins, — such as make a New Englander 
think of home and Thanksgiving holidays, — ripened this year. On 
our way home we called at another friend's, and, to shorten distan- 
7 



74 KANSAS. 

ces, went across the prairie where there was no road. We found 
several deep ravines, difficult to cross, but with no actual danger 
save at one point. There was a deep ravine, with a natural path, 
or bridge, over it, which was exceedingly narrow, while the chasm 
below looked frightful, and the bank before us very steep. The 
doctor thought he could drive safely over. I calculated the 
chances of broken limbs, should we go off the ledge, and the 
frightened horse, with an extra pull and a creaking of the car- 
riage, took us again on to safer ground. A short time after, as wo 
were passing along quite gayly upon a side hill, thinking the perils 
of the way were over, the carriage suddenly slipped down against 
the lower wheels ; but we arrived home safely and in good time. 

20^A. — We heard of the illness of some acquaintances over at 
Wakarusa, and I accompanied the doctor to see them. We had 
a pleasant drive over, though the crossing at the AVakarusa is 
steep. The little dry ravines beyond are more trying to springs. 
Our friends live upon the top of " Lone Tree Mound," a high ele- 
vation, the " lone tree " and house for many miles beino; distinctly 
visible. It is a difficult matter to reach the summit of the hill, 
and was accomplished by winding around a circuitous way upon 
the side hill, with the carriage, while the doctor climbed up upon 
foot. We at length reached the house, and found our friends glad 
to see us. So far as they are from neighbors, and so difficult of 
access when sickness has been upon them, one or both, the times 
have indeed looked dark, and life's road dreary. They sent for the 
doctor several days since, but the word had but just reached him. 

Hoping to find a better road home, we turned into another, but 
found it infinitely worse. In the bottom of one ravine " Old 
Gray " made a false step, and fell, breaking both shafts. Yankee 
ingenuity was brought into requisition, and after tying on poles 
with anything in the shape of strings which could be produced for 
the emergency of the hour, and a good deal of merriment, we were 
en route again. Before the cutting of the poles, there was a most 
amusing silence. The horse, having been led up to the top of the 
hill, was looking meekly for further orders. The doctor was stand- 
ing near by, with his hands upon his sides, and looking the very 
image of patience, and poor little me, feeling like laughing, and 



ILLS OF PIONEER LIFE. 75 

yet feeling soler in view of remaining all night with the prairie 
wolves, in such a place as this, sat demurely in the carriage. 
Finally I said, " Shall I get out of the carriage ? " And the im- 
age of patience came forward, saying " Yes," and assisted me out. 
I knew then that in some corner of his brain there was a plan for 
new shafts, and a sure prospect for our return to Lawrence. 
Within two miles of Lawrence we called at the place where we 
got our v/eekly supply of butter, which is of the best quality. 
While the lady of the little log cabin was weighing it out, her 
husband came to the carriage, and, after talking a moment, went 
in again to play us some tunes. His fondness for music amounts 
to a passion, and while living in Ohio he often taught music. He 
has a large dairy here. 

About a mile further on our way home, two gentlemen on horse- 
back, coming from the direction of Lawrence, rode hastily up, and, 
with a good deal of excitement in their manner, informed us that 
a large body of Missourians were encamped near Hickory Point ; 
that they threatened to drive off the free-state settlers ; and, lastly, 
that a fight was expected. They desired the doctor to use his 
influence with the people of Lawrence, to have a force sent out 
immediately to aid their neighbors at Hickory Point. He said to 
them he " thought it was a ruse," and promised to do nothing until 
more reliable information should come. One of the gentlemen, 
who has always been famous here for his words of bravado, and 
want of bravery in action, said, on parting, " I will send an express 
every hour." 

22d. — The military companies are on drill to-day. A friend 
sent us a basket of mandrakes. They have a pleasant flavor, but 
are quite medicinal. The gentleman's "express" is not yet heard 
from. 

A gentleman, living nine miles distant, sent to the doctor this 
morning to come and see him. He found him quite il with fever, 
in a little cabin, alone, with no one to take care of him. So, 
placing the bed in the carriage, he brought him home with him. 

2od. —, The patient was not injured by his ride, but his ner- 
vousness exceeded ail bounds. We had a quantity of delicious 
apples. Apples were first brought into market here on the fourth 



76 KANSAS. 

of this month. A large pailful of grapes was also scat in. 
These are smaller, and not as sweet as those which ripen in Octo- 
ber. We had rain with furious wind beforehand. Such clouds 
of dust arose as to hide the town from our sight. Several panes 
of glass blew out, and, in attempting to put boards at the window, 
to keep out the pouring rain, we were thoroughly drenched. The 
little calf in the pen seems frightened too, breaks his rope, leaps 
the fence, and scuds before the wind like a frightened hare. We 
have a general hubbub. Mr. C, a lawyer here, was assaulted by 
Dr. Wood, this afternoon. Dr. Wood invited Mr. C. to his 
house, saying he wanted to talk with him. On reaching the 
house, however, he declined to go into it, and took Mr. C. 
around on the east side of it, and there they sat down. Dr. Wood 
then asked him if he thouo-ht so and so in reo;ard to the settlement 
of the city property, making his own action in the affair fair and 
honorable. Mr. C. said he thought not ; whereupon Dr. Wood 
struck Mr. C, with a piece of iron, or a slung shot, upon his head, 
cutting a deep gash in it. He then ran. Mr. C. soon came into 
the street, and, as the brave doctor was picking up a stone to 
throw at the wounded man, several of the citizens gathered around 
and put an end to it. 

I^th. — We were scarcely up this morning before word came 
that Mrs. L. was dead or dying. She was taken ill last evening. 
Two of the children are also dead. It is thought their deaths 
were occasioned by eating very freely of mandrakes yesterday — a 
disease like cholera being the result. Remembering her as I saw 
her in the little, pent-up cabin, I can but think the change a glo- 
rious one, for now there must be room, room for the freed spirit, 
earth's fetters broken. There are now two motherless little girls. 
The mother and youngest two are buried in one grave. 

" Thou liast all seasons for thine own, Death ! " 

28?A. — As a relaxation, being wearied with constant company 
and continued care of so large a family, with want of quiet, the 
doctor proposed a ride to Fish's. With a full carriage load, we 
made the proposed visit. Fish's is a sort of stopping-place by the 
way, nine miles from Lawrence, and between thirty and forty 



ILLS OP PIONEER LIFE. 77 

miles from Kansas city. Entertainment for man and beast is 
found there. The building is of wood, two stories in height. 
Upon the lower floor are a dining-room, which is also used for gen- 
eral reception-room, and a store of groceries, dry goods, and the 
et cetera, needful to supply the Indians in this region, while the 
upper rooms serve for sleeping apartments. The worn traveller, 
after a ride of thirty-five miles, in the broiling sun, or in the 
piercing winds, is glad of a rest, even in a building so unhome- 
like as this. 

Mr. Fish, who owns the establishment, is a Shawnee Indian, of 
education and principle. He is a firm believer in the assertion 
of the Declaration of Independence, that " all men are born free 
and equal," and gladly extends the right hand of fellowship to 
those who come desiring to plant the seeds of truth and freedom 
in this new country. He would, with us, joyfully welcome the 
hour, when, grown into a mighty tree, its spreading branches should 
cover the whole land. Two gentlemen connected with Fish are 
from Boston. Mr. F., who superintends the culinary department, 
is from Massachusetts, and our appetites attest to his skill in 
that line. Some Indian women, who came to the store to trade, 
sit at the table with us. We talk of their dress and ornaments, 
not supposing they can understand us, while they gravely listen. 
When we have ceased commenting, they repeat to Mr. Fish, in 
Shawnee, what we have said, as he tells us; they seem much 
amused and laugh heartily. They have the advantage of us, being 
able to speak English as well as Delaware and Shawnee. 

July 2>lst. — We have had rain as often as every alternate day, 
for the last week, in gentle showers mostly, and often at night, the 
days being clear and pleasant. A part of our guests left a few 
days since, and on the next day, on a short half hour's notice, we 
had six gentlemen and a lady to dine. We have now very nice 
melons. The melons, cantelopes, tomatoes, etc., are finer than any 
I have ever seen elsewhere. Four more strangers were in, in the 
afternoon, and we were not able to finish our day's work until sun- 
down. To-day the doctor and I took a short ride on horseback, to 
get away from care. We found other company, on our return, 
just returned from the regions of Fort Riley. The cholera is 



78 KANSAS. 

making terrible havoc there, among the men principally engaged 
on the government works. They are said to have exposed them- 
selves most wilfully, by drinking of poor water, when at a little 
distance the best was to be had. Major Ogden, a most estimable 
man, has fallen a victin to the dread disease, also some families 
of the officers. This afternoon I have been off upon the prairie 
alone. Was two miles from home at sun-down, and, before I reached 
it, could not see the path for the darkness, but trusted to " Old 
Gray." The sick man is so far recovered as to leave. 



CHAPTER YII. 

KANSAS LAWS — aOVERNOR SHANNON. 

Aug. 10. — "All day the low hung clouds have dropped their 
garnered fulness down." 

People begin to come in from the country, miles distant^ to the 
Convention, which is to be held on the 14th and 15th. 

On the 2d of July, the Legislature, elected by Missourians, 
assembled, as ordered by Gov. Reeder, at Pawnee, more than one 
hundred miles from the border. Mr. Conway, of the sixth dis- 
trict, resigned his seat in the council, on the ground that, having 
been elected by illegal votes, this pretended Legislature had no 
claim to that character. The members of the House chosen at the 
new election, ordered by Gov. Reeder, were deprived of their seats. 

On the 4th, the Legislature passed an act, removing the seat of 
government to the Shawnee Mission, two or three miles from West- 
port. Gov. Reeder vetoed it, as inconsistent with the organic act 

On the 16th, the Legislature reassembled at that place, and on 
the 22d, D. Houston, the only free-state member of the Assembly, 
resigned his seat, not only on the ground that the Legislature was 
an illegal body, but that, by its removal from Pawnee, it had nul- 
lified itself. 

The laws passed by the Shawnee Legislature are of an intolerant, 
Draconian character, allowing to the people of this territory no 
rights. They are copied from the Missouri statute book, with the 
exception of those relating to the qualifications of voters of the 
Legislative Assembly, and the slave code, which are made especially 
to crush the people of this territory. They allow them no voice 
in those matters of government which most concern them. 

The following is taken verbatim from the " Laws of the Territory 



80 KANSAS. 

of Kansas," farnisbed to Congress, on its requisition, by President 
Pierce, and printed as " Exec, Doc. 234." 

"chapter CLI. — SLAVES. 
** As Act to punish Offences against Slave-property. 
§ 1. Persons raising insurrection punishable with death. 

2. Aider punishable with death. 

3. What constitutes felony. 

4. Punishment for decoying away slaves. 

5. Punishment for assisting slaves. 
G. What deemed grand larceny. 

7. What deemed felony. 

8. Punishment for concealing slaves. 

9. Punishment for rescuing slaves from officer. 

10. Penalty on officer who refuses to assist in capturing slaves. 

11. Printing of incendiary documents. 

12. What deemed a felony. 

13. Who are qualified as jurors. 

" Be it enacted hy the Gover?ior and Legislative Assembly of the 
Territory of Kansas, as follows : 

" Section 1. That every person, bond or free, wbo sball be con- 
victed of actually raising a rebellion or insurrection of slaves, free 
negroes or mulattoes, in this territory, shall suffer death. 

" Sec. 2. Every free person wbo sball aid or assist in any 
rebellion or insurrection of slaves, free negroes or mulattoes, or 
sball furnish arms, or do any overt act in furtberance of such rebel- 
lion or insurrection, sball suffer death. 

*' Sec. 3. If any free person sball, by speaking, writing or print- 
ing, advise, persuade or induce, any slaves to rebel, conspire against 
or murder any citizen of this territory, or sball bring into, print, 
write, publish, or circulate, or cause to be brought into, printed, 
written, published or circulated, or sball knowingly aid or assist in 
the bringing into, printing, writing, publishing or circulating, in this 
territory, any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet or circular, for the 
purpose of exciting insurrection, rebellion, revolt or conspiracy on 
the part of the slaves, free negroes or mulattoes, |igainst the citi- 
zens of the territory or any part of them, such person shall be 
guilty of felc^ny, and suffer death. 



KANSAS LAWS — GOV. SHANNON. 81 

" Sec. 4. If any person shall entice, decoy or carry away out of 
this territory any slave belonging to another, with intent to deprive 
the owner thereof of the services of such slave, or with intent to 
effect or procure the freedom of such slave, he shall be adjudged 
guilty of grand larceny, and, on conviction thereof, shall suffer 
death, or be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than ten years. 

" Sec. 5. If any person shall aid or assist in enticing, decoying, 
or persuading, or carrying away, or sending out of this territory, 
any slave belonging to another, with intent to procure or effect the 
freedom of such slave, or with intent to deprive the owner thereof 
of the services of such slave, he shall be adjudged guilty of grand 
larceny, and, on conviction thereof, shall suffer death, or be impris- 
oned at hard labor for not less than ten years. 

" Sec. 6. If any person shall entice, decoy or carry away out 
of any state or other territory of the United States, any slave 
belonging to another, with intent to procure or effect the freedom 
of such slave, or to deprive the owner thereof of the services of 
such slave, and shall bring such slave into this territory, he shall 
be adjudged guilty of grand larceny, in the same manner as if 
such slave had been enticed, decoyed or carried away out of this 
territory, and in such case the larceny may be charged to have 
been committed in any county of this territory, into or through 
which such slave shall have been brought by such person, and, on 
sonviction thereof, the person offending shall suffer death, or be 
imprisoned at hard labor for not less than ten years. 

" Sec. 7. If any person shall entice, persuade or induce any 
slave to escape from the service of his master or owner in this ter- 
ritory, or shall aid or assist any slave in escaping from the service 
of his master or owner, or shall aid, assist, harbor or conceal, any 
slave who may have escaped from the service of his master or owner, 
he shall be deemed guilty of felony, and punished by imprisonment 
at hard labor for a term of not less than five years. 

" Sec. 8. If any person in this territory shall aid or assist, 
harbor or conceal, any slave who has escaped from the service of 
his master or owner, in another state or territory, such person 
shall be punished in like manner as if such slave had escaped from 
the service of his master or owner in this territory. 



82 KANSAS. 

" Sec. 9. If any person shall resist any officer while attempting 
to arrest any slave that may have escaped from the service of his 
master or owner, or shall rescue such slave when in custody of any 
officer or other person, or shall entice, persuade, aid or assist, such 
slave to escape from the custody of any officer or other person who 
may have such slave in custody, whether such slave have escaped 
from the service of his master or owner in this territory, or in any 
other state or territory, the person so offending shall be guilty of 
felony, and punished by imprisonment at hard labor for a term of 
not less than two years. 

" Sec. 10. If any marshal, sheriff or constable, or the deputy 
of any such officer, shall, when required by any person, refuse to 
aid or assist in the capture of any slave that may have escaped 
from the service of his master or owner, whether such slave shall 
have escaped from his master or owner in this territory, or any 
state or other territory, such officer shall be fined in a sum of not 
less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars. 

" Sec. 11. If any person print, write, introduce into, publish or 
circulate, or cause to be brought into, printed, written, published 
or circulated, or shall knowingly aid or assist in bringing into, 
printing, publishing or circulating within this territory, any book, 
paper, pamphlet, magazine, handbill or circular, containing any 
statements, arguments, opinions, sentiment, doctrine, advice or 
innuendo, calculated to produce a disorderly, dangerous or rebellious 
disaffection among the slaves in this territory, or to induce such 
slaves to escape from the service of their masters, cr to resist their 
authority, he shall be guilty of felony, and be punished by impris- 
onment and hard labor for a term not less than five years. 

*« Sec. 12. If any free person, by speaking or by writing, assert 
or maintain that persons have not the right to hold slaves in this 
territory, or shall introduce into this territory, print, publish, write, 
circulate, or cause to be introduced into this territory, written, 
printed, published or circulated in this territory, any book, paper, 
magazine, pamphlet or circular, containing any denial of the right 
of persons to hold slaves in this territory, such person shall be 
deemed guilty of felony, and punished by imprisonment at hard 
labor for a term of not less than two years. 



KANSAS LAWS — GOV. SHANNON. 83 

" Sec. 13. No person who is conscientiously opposed to holding 
slaves, or who does not admit the right to hold slaves in this ter- 
ritory, shall sit as a juror on the trial of any prosecution for any 
violation of any of the sections of this act. 

" This act to take effect and be in force from and after the 
fifteenth day of September, a. d. 1855." 

Several meetings have been held, taking this matter into consid- 
eration, and much talk had in reference to holding a general con- 
vention, with the view of forming a state government, and asking 
for admission as a state at the next Congress. 

\2th. — It rained pouringly all last night, and without ceasing 
to-day. Mr. D.'s house, down on the street, was struck by 
the lightning last night, and one corner of the roof torn off by the 
fluid. Mrs. D. was alone, save two little children. These were 
stunned by the shock so that they returned no answer to the 
mother's repeated call upon them to speak. The wind came in so 
furiously through the open dwelling, that she was not able to keep 
a light long enough to assure herself whether they still lived. 
Thus the weary night passed away ; the storm raged without, and 
many conflicting fears and anxieties within. 

The ofiicials at Washington, with President Pierce as their 
nominal head, have seen that in Gov. Reeder the whole people of 
the territory have an impartial friend — have seen, too, that he 
follows to the letter the law under which he acts as governor. 
They are no less determined now, than at the time of the I'epeal 
of the Missouri compromise, to force slavery upon this fair land, 
and have, therefore, resolved to remove him upon a false charge 
of speculating in Kaw lands. He has repudiated the acts of the 
Legislature because of their holding their session in violation of 
the organic act. Now a creature will be sent here in the form of 
a man, but ignoring all manliness, and selling body and soul to do 
the infamous work of the slave power. No man of integrity and 
sterling honesty can long hold this office, as he will displease both 
the people of Missouri and the federal head. 

\oth. — It was beautifully clear this morning, but rain 
was soon falling. Friends from Boston arrived in the evening. 



84 KANSAS. 

after a long ride from Kansas city, througli tlie treacherous mud 
aud dreuching rain. People for the convention are still gathering 
from all parts of the territory. They feel themselves a wronged 
and oppressed people. Thousands of men, from another state, 
armed with instruments of death, and maltreating our citizens, 
nave thus elected men to make our laws. They are men, for the 
most part, so ignorant, that in any other country they would not 
be considered eligible to the most unimportant office. It is stated, 
upon good authority, that some of them can neither read nor write. 
Such if^norance is not strange when we consider the fact of the scare- 
ity of schools through the border counties of Missouri — one of the 
most populous boasting only one within its entire limits. Such des- 
titution is one of slavery's trophies. While the Richmond En- 
quirer comes out in wordy tirad£S upon common schools, why 
should Western Missouri do more than feed the brutal passions, 
leaving the mind uncultivated and rough as the shores of her great 
river ? 

These men have enacted laws worthy alone of the dark ages. 
Those of Draco were humane in the comparison, and Nero's blood- 
thirstiness is transformed into the milk of human kindness before 
this new light of the nineteenth century. We have looked to 
him who has sworn to protect the whole people, the executive of 
the nation. We might sooner look to the granite hills of his own 
state with hope of sympathy ; for, given over to the minions of 
slavery, to do their bidding, no thunders save those of a long out- 
raged, indignant people will ever awaken him. 

14^/i. — Twelve strangers dined with us to-day. They came 
from one hundred miles back in the territory, and there, as here, 
they represent the feeling of the people strong against these un- 
heard-of outrages and frauds. We are struggling for our own 
freedom against a tyranny more unjust than that which King 
George exercised over the colonies. Though a war, a conflict like 
that even of seven years' duration, be the result of it, the end, 
bringing in the glorious reign of freedom, will be a final triumph. 

These gentlemen speak of the good appearance of the crops. 
Corn near the river called the Big Blue is vei-y high. Some of 
the stalks measure eighteen feet and some inches. 



KANSAS LAWS — GOV. SHANNON. 85 

Ibth — The " windows of heaven " seem literally to be opened, 
for the rain still pours down in torrents ; but it does not in the 
least dampen the ardor of our people ; and they, considering the 
facts of their want of protection from the government, and being 
without any law-making power, resolve to act in view of such 
state of things. A large and enthusiastic meeting was held in 
the evening to take the matter into consideration of forming a 
government of their own. 

IStk. — The quiet citizens of Lawrence are continually annoyed 
by the street broils in our midst. Four brothers, by the name of 
Hopper, living a few miles out, by insult and indignity have en- 
deavored to get our people to that spot where forbearance would 
cease to be a virtue ; where, acting upon the first law of nature, 
they would give blow for blow. A man, ignorant to the last 
degree, whose identity is recognized by all our people under the 
cognomen of " Sam Salters," and who holds an office of deputy- 
sheriff under the Shavv^nee Legislature, has also acted with them. 
Scarcely a day has passed for weeks that the long-sufferance of 
the people of Lawrence has not been wantonly trifled with. The 
apparent object has been to get some one to retaliate, and then 
word would be given to the border counties of Missouri. On the 
wings of the wind expresses would be sent. By falsehoods and 
inflammatory rumors, they would so inflame the passions of the 
people, until, like an avalanche, they would pour in upon us, and 
a plea be given for the war of extermination they are continually 
threatening. The border papers are fall of threats against the 
Yankees. An extract from the Leavenworth Herald is a sample 
of all : " Dr. Robinson is sole agent for the underground railroad 
leading out of Western Missouri, and for the transportation of 
fugitive ' niggers.' His office is in Lawrence, K. T. Give him 
a call." 

19tk. — Two large carriage loads went from our house to attend 
a camp-meeting on the Wakarusa. It was holden in the woods 
on the bank of the river, and while seats were provided for the 
audience in front of the high broad platform used by the speakers, 
the tents for the nifi;ht were at a little distance in the back-OTound. 
The oirriages, of every possible description, and of every grade of 
S 



86 KANSAS. 

beauty, f;om a rockaway to a rough, springless cart with board 
seats, were fastened around the entrance to the grove, and gave 
to the whole a most novel appearance. There was a large gather- 
ing of people, and the services would be impressive were it not for 
the continued " Amens," in shrill as well as deep guttural tones, 
which the zealous worshippers are sounding in one's ears from all 
quarters. 

A large proportion of the western emigrants to Kansas are 
Methodists, and many of them are very fine people. The presid- 
ing elder here is a mild, benevolent-looking man, to whom a stran- 
ger would at once feel attracted. He came from Georgia, for- 
merly, and for years has been a resident of Missouri. No one 
more than he can have seen the evils of slavery, and, by his firm 
adhere'nce to the principles of libert}^, he attests his abhorrence of 
it. There are several clergymen in the territory, who have been 
residents of Missouri over twenty years, whose souls are strong in 
their love of freedom. 

21st. — The little steam ferry-boat, Lizzie, was here to-day. 
How we wish some enterprising capitalist would build some boats 
with a draft of only ten or twelve inches without load, such as are 
used upon the California waters ! Every day we might hear the 
shrill steam-whistle, telling of active business life, and a means 
of communication between us and the rest of the world. Then 
the freights which have to be brought forty-five miles by land, on 
wagons, could more easily be transported into the territory, and 
passengers would find the journey much less tedious. Now, if a 
mill gives way, any part of the machinery breaking, nothing in all 
Missouri, this side of St. Louis, can be found for repairs; and all 
these heavy freights have to be brought by land from Kansas 
city. A boat briskly plying on the river would add much to the 
growth and prosperity of the territory. 

22d. — I have little leisure for reading and writing. This after- 
noon I took Mrs. W. to ride, and she acknowledges she never saw 
so lovely a country, — thinks it would be pleasant to have a sum- 
mer home here, with a winter home in Boston. Before we took 
our drive into the country, she received her first lesson in horse- 
back ridino-, and caused us many a hearty laugh by her fearful- 



KANSAS LAWS — GOV. SHANNON. 87 

ness, calling " Whoa ! " " Whoa ! " to the horse, when he was stand- 
ing as still as anything could, and after at last going a. little dis- 
tance, asking, in most plaintive tones, for some one to come and 
turn the horse around. 

24:th. — The report of Mr. Dawson's declining the appointment 
of governor of Kansas is confirmed ; also that Wilson Shannon, of 
Ohio, has been appointed in his place, and will accept the ap- 
pointment. Coming, as Mr. Shannon does, from the free state of 
Ohio, where the principles of truth and freedom are engraven on 
the hearts of her people, deeply and indelibly, we ought to expect 
a man in whose heart are large sympathies, whose mind is enlight- 
ened. But from all the antecedents of his life, his course in Mex- 
ico, his daily life of dissoluteness and debauchery in California 
which was a shame and burning disgrace upon his countrymen, we 
have nothing good to expect. Such a man will naturally be the 
tool of Missouri and the administration. No other could accept the 
appointment as the second choice of the President since Governor 
Keeder's removal. We have only to endure with patience the 
administration of government under such men, still looking for- 
ward to the " good time coming." 

30?/i. — There is a Hungarian doctor here, who pretends he has 
in open field fought for Hungary by the side of Louis Kossuth. 
Yet, strange as the fact seems to us, he has openly espoused the 
side of the oppressor here, and for the Hoppers and Sam Salters 
become a champion. He rolls up his sleeves and daily walks 
the streets threatening peaceable citizens with annihilation. At 
the slightest disturbance or refusal of our people to be overawed 
by him, he runs for bowie-knife and revolver. Threats of " I '11 
cut your heart out ! " "I '11 shoot you ! " or " Drive the d — d 
Yankees from the territory ! " are of every-day occurrence. 

Sept. 1st. — The new governor arrived at AVestport, Missouri, 
and was received into full fellowship, and with demonstrations of 
joy. Before setting foot in the territory, or looking upon his real 
constituents, the bo7ia fide settlers of Kansas, full of whiskey and 
elation of ofiice, he made to them a speech. 'He told them in it 
repeatedly of their Legislature, the laws theij had enacted, and 
assured t'lem with great fervor of manner, that he should call 



88 KANSAS. 

upon tliem to aid him in their enforcement. All this the people 
of Westport, Missouri, received with cheers and hurrahs ; and, in 
loud bursts of enthusiasm, thej expressed their joy that the tool was 
sure. Governor Shannon's son quietly asked of a bystander 
" if board could not be obtained in Lawrence, and hinted, in pretty 
plain terms, that he should prefer to live where there was less 
whiskey, and men of less ruffianly look. When the boat reached 
the landing, at Kansas city, a large number of the Missourians 
went on to meet the governor, and introduced themselves to him 
as "Border Ruffians." A carriage was soon sent over from 
Westport, to convey him thither. So, in the course of his rule in 
Kansas, we shall see what we shall see. 

^th. — Emigration again begins to pour into the territory. 
During the last two months there has been little in this part of 
the country. Cholera has raged on the river, and summer 
heats have been too great for any comfort in travelling; but 
now the prairies are again dotted with white-covered wagons of 
the western emigrant. They come bringing everything with 
them in their wagons, their furniture, provisions, and their families. 
Their stock, also, is driven with the teams. Their wagons to 
them are a travelling home ; many of them having a stove set, 
with pipe running through the top. They often travel far into 
the territory ; it matters to them little how far, so that they get 
a location which pleases them. Then they build a cabin, and, 
with a fixed habitation, they will become the strength and sinew 
of the country. Being used to the emergencies and the hard- 
ships of pioneer life, Kansas will depend upon them mostly, in 
this early settlement, for the ground work, the substratum, upon 
which to build up a glorious new state. While they, for the most 
part, settle in the country, and will gather into their garners of 
the golden treasures of the rich and fertile soil, eastern cap-' 
ital will form a nucleus, around which the young, the adventur- 
ous, the enterprising, will gather, and new cities, new towns, will 
spring up with rapid growth, emulating in thrift and intelligence 
those of the old states. 

Another street broil occurred to-day. The Blue Lodge has 
decided to make an attack upon Lawrence before two months are 



KANSAS LAWS — GOV. SHANNON. 89 

past so cne of its members informs a gentleman of our acquaint- 
ance. Whiskej-drinkers in this country are quite apt to di- 
vulge secrets. 

6^-^. — Some gentlemen from Wisconsin have just arrived with 
their families,' and two men, whom they hired in Missouri ; one of 
them is a Missourian, the other a free black. Scarcely had they 
arrived in Lawrence before Dr. Wood called upon them, and, 
after a good deal of needless bluster, demanded that the free pa- 
pers should be shown him. This the negro did. As the design 
was to create disturbance, and the free papers putting an end to 
this being done under any show of legality, his rage found vent 
in threats that the " negro should be thrown into the river, unless 
he returned to Missouri." However, there is sufficient love of 
justice, in Lawrence, to prevent any violence being done to any 
of its quiet citizens, be they white or black. 

The weather is, indeed, most lovely. Shadows lie over the 
whole landscape, painting the prairie in green, from the lightest 
to the darkest shade. The music of the hay -cutters, with their 
large mowing-mashines, has for days chimed in with the noise of 
many hammers, the cheerful voice of the teamsters, and the glad 
carol of singing-birds. 

The appearance of the hay-makers is most novel, as they ride 
in among the tall grass, higher than their heads in many places, 
and bearing now a beautiful tasseled blossom of red, with 
yellow stamens, being seated upon their mowers as comfortably as 
when riding in a buggy. 

"Itli. — The gentlemen with whom the free negro came have 
hired a claim about two miles from town, and moved out. Nc 
attempts were made, last night, to carry out the throats of the 
pro-slavery men. To-night, however, we heard of loads oi people 
going out to the claim, and shots fired. The facts are, simply, 
the Hungarian dostor, wishing to exhibit his prowess, and prove 
his bravery, as our people have invariably suggested that so 
much roiling up of sleeves, and baring of the bosom, inviting an 
attack, was only the result of cowardice, selected this opportu- 
nity for a display of valor. Armed with gun and pistols, he 
took the route for the claim. Evans, the young Missourian, 
8* 



90 KANSAS. 

with whom the negro was " raised," and whom he says he will 
protect, at all hazards, came in town with a team. Two of our 
citizens, wl.o knew the deadly intent with which Dr. Schareff left 
town, asked a ride with Evans, as he returned home, and they 
soon overtook the belligerent pill-pedler, who was puffing along in 
hot haste, as though empires were wavering in the balance at 
each moment's delay. As the cart passed, he asked for a ride, 
and sat in front, taking no notice of those behind. Presently, 
Evans asked him " where he was going; " to which he replied, " he 
was going hunting," which seemed a little singular, at this time 
of night. However, no comments were made. After some little 
desultory talk, the valiant doctor said, " I believe there is a 
negro out this way, and I am going there." Evans quickly replied, 
" It is just where I am going." 

Doctor Schareff, supposing his errand must be like his own, com- 
menced, at once, a vile tirade upon the negro, and avowed his 
intention to kill him. Evans heard him a while ; then, with decis- 
ive tones, ordered him to give him his pistols, which he did 
unhesitatingly, and, trembling with fear, dropped his gun upon the 
bottom of the cart. Evans then commanded him to go on and 
state his real sentiments. His plaintive " Excuse me," in broken 
English, gained him no reprieve. He was obliged, while the tears 
were coursing down his cheeks, to talk, or be silent, at the bid- 
ding of young Evans. At one time he commanded him to say, 
"I eat my words." His sobbing "Excuse me " availed nothing, 
and upon the threat of " I '11 shoot you," the same he had so often 
used to others, he repeated, " I "11 eat my words." They soon 
arrived at the claim, and Evans, commanding him to be seated 
by the side of the innocent object of much tirade and excite- 
ment, said, quite proudly, " The negro is much the better looking 
of the two." 

^th. — The summer, for shortness, has indeed been without pre- 
cedent. How we long for the good old days of childhood to 
come back, when a half-hour seemed a month, and the intervening 
time, betweg i Sunday and Sunday, an age ! Now birth-days 
md annual festivals scarcely knell their departure ere they 



KANSAS LAWS — GOV. SHANNON. 91 

return. Would there be such a crowding of duties then ? One 
grows weary of doing ; also of leaving duties undone. 

The loveliness of the weather, the few months I have been here, 
has never been. surpassed. Although the heat often rises high, a 
fresh breeze makes it in reality seem much less. I have never 
passed a summer with so little inconvenience from the heat, and 
have heard many people from Pennsylvania, as well as more 
northern states, say the same. Coming from the bleak and hilly 
north, where four months are all we boast of genial weather, free 
from frosts and north-east winds, — where we cherish with utmost 
care our garden flowsrs, protecting them from summer's heat and 
winter's cold, — where, of wild flowers, we' have many a time re- 
turned rich, after a long tramp, with short-stemmed violets, one- 
sided dandelions, and blear-eyed daisies, — to this country, where 
charming weather predominates from early spring until the new 
year comes, displacing the old, we have grown wild in our enthu- 
siasm of this beautiful land. We have revelled in flowers grow- 
ing under our windows and at our doors, which, with much 
tending, we have tempted to bloom meagerly in gardeurb orders 
and green-houses in New England, such as verbenas, — velvet and 
sweet-scented, — petunias, fox-gloves, phlox, larkspurs, spider- 
wort, etc., an endless variety. 

In the pillared clouds of morning and evening, when the golden 
and sapphire -mingle, we are reminded of the burnished gates, and 
the streets inlaid with pearl, of the New Jerusalem. 

While watching the changing, flitting shadows, which at one 
moment make the distant landscape of a deep blue, and then 
of a brown color, with little green spots like oases in the desert, 
life's changes have been typified in the shadows and sunny light, 
and we have grown wiser, treasuring the lesson. 

^th. — Near the close of an unusually quiet Sabbath, we were 
attracted by the hasty, furious riding of a horseman upon the 
prairie going toward town. He soon returned, and others followed 
in squads of three and four. AVe heard the merry laugh, and 
occasional snapping of a gun. They were going out to the claim 
where the hunted negro lives. It was the hour for the meeting 
"here ; but owing to the excitement, few came. A lady, who came 



92 KANSAS. 

from that neighborhood, gave us the fact. A wagon-load of 
pro-slavery men about Lawrence, with some Missourians, had 
gathered at Mr. R.'s to take or kill the negro. Some person on a 
near claim, seeing the crowd, and suspecting the design, had hastily 
come to him for help. Those we saw passing out were some of 
the citizens. When the wagon-load of the mob arrived, the negro 
was out on the prairie, driving in the cattle. The gentleman of 
the house told them if they wished to fight him they could do so ; 
but they could not have the negro. They left with threats of 
vengeance, and aid from Missouri. 

14?A. — Gov. Shannon passed within a mile of Lawrence, to- 
day, on his way to Lecompton — a little settlement some fourteen 
miles above here. A few little cabins are erected in a brokea 
country ; but its greatness lies in the future, as the Shawnee legis- 
lators have designated this site as the seat of government. It is 
also the place where Samuel J. Jones, postmaster at Westport, 
^Missouri, and sheriff of Douglas County, Kansas Territory, has, 
in most wanton manner, burned down the houses of some free-state 
settlers. Gov. Shannon passed by us entirely, living in the larg- 
est settlement in the territory. Having received the right hand 
of fellowship from Missouri, what can we of the territory expect ? 
He evidently does not desire the acquaintance of those whom he 
was sent to govern ; but is himself to be governed by the border 
towns in Missouri. 

loth. — Gov. Shannon returned to-night. He stopped a mo- 
ment at the Cincinnati House, and was waited upon by one of our 
leading citizens, with the request that he would come out and 
meet th j people. He declined ; he must go four miles further to- 
night, and his suite cannot be detained. The offer was at once 
made to carry him to Franklin, where his party propose remain- 
ing over night, after he should have been introduced to our people, 
and have exchanged mutual greetings. This, also, he declined; 
and, as he entered his carriage to drive away, smothered groans 
struck on his ear, — the natural lan^uao-e of an iiidii2;nation to- 
wards a man so weak, so pusillanimous, — a man scut to govern 
a people, and refusing to meet that people on the most common 
terms of civility We deprecate this expression of feeling, know- 



KANSAS LAWS — GOV. SHANNON. 93 

ing^that to bear is better than to retort, and to the office we 
should try to pay that respect of which the man plainly shows he 
is not worthy. With the Rev. Thomas Johnson, of the Shawnee 
Mission School, a slaveholder, he will pursue, on the morrow (Sun- 
day), his way thither. 

19th. — A delegate convention was held at Topeka to-day to 
take into consideration the formation of a state constitution. 
The convention decided, after full discussion, to call a constitu- 
tional convention, to be held on the 22d of October, at Topeka, 
and organized a provisional government to superintend the election 
of delegates. The executive committee consisted of Messrs. J. 
H. Lane, Chairman ; J. R. Goodwin, Secretary ; G-. W. Smith, C. 
R. Holliday, C. P. Schuyler, M. J. Parrott, and G. W. Brown. 

Previous to this convention, the mass convention, held at Law- 
rence August 15th, had resulted in a call for this of the 19th, at 
Topeka. Also a delegate convention of the free-state party was 
held at Big Springs, September 5th, to fix a day for the election 
of a delegate to Congress, and to nominate a candidate. At this 
convention, the 9th of October was named for the election, instead 
of the 2d, the day fixed by the Shawnee Mission Legislature, and 
Ex-Governor Reeder was nominated for candidate. This conven- 
tion, by resolution, referred the matter of a state organization to 
the Topeka convention, which was to represent all parties. 

22^. — For the last few days nothing had been thought of but 
company. The house was full all day, and nearly all night. 
There are also continued rumors of new invasions, which disturb 
us but little. 

Yesterday Mrs. W. and I went out to Mr. N.'s. He has a 
most lovely location two miles from town, and himself and wife 
are well pleased with their Kansas home. Last evening there was 
a melon party at the hall, at which there was a general gathering 
of old and young. 

About this time the people of Lawrence entered into a self 
defensive organization. The street broils and outrages were 
becoming so frequent their lives were in daily peril. As soon as 
the organization was complete, and their badges gave evidence of 
a secret society, the outrages ceased. 



94 KANSAS. 

2^tk. — Rode down to Fish's, after tea with the doctor, who 
went upon business. There was quite a gathering there, and one 
of our western orators was making a speech. He said repeatedly, 
" I have saw," which is their frequent mode of expression. On 
our way back, we passed several parties camped by the way-side, 
sitting or lying in the light of the bright camp-fire, while the sen- 
tinel leaned against a tree. We passed others, where they had no 
fires, but slept in and under the wagon, on the bare ground. The 
air of this country is so pure that persons do not take cold from 
lying on the ground. Doctor is tired with his various and constant 
cares, and sleeps sitting in the bottom of the carriage, while I 
drive on homewards. It was eleven o'clock, and the moon was 
shining brightly. 

oQtk. — A gentleman called, and inquired for doctor. On be- 
ing told that he was absent, he inquired for me. After saying to 
me, " Doctor is not at home," to which I assent, he said, " We 
have some news." A long pause followed, in which a thousand 
fears and anxieties rushed upon me. At last, by dint of ques- 
tions, the following was the substance of the " news " I was able 
to gather : 

Two regiments of men are on their way to Lawrence — one 
thousand men in each regiment. They have the gallows erected 
upon which to hang Gov. Reeder, and the rifle loaded with which 
to shoot Col. Lane. 

I raise doubts as to the probability of such a thing ; but he is 
sure, having been "specially informed by one acquainted with 
their movements, and who saw them as far on their way as the 
Shawnee meeting-house." 

In compliance with his urgent request, 1 promise to tell doctor 
the moment he comes, that " he may go down and advise with 
him." The moment he is gone we have a hearty laugh, at the 
expense of the timid man, whose courage consists in brave-sounding 
words, and would willingly be at some personal risk to witness his 
fright at a visitation from the Missourians. Some people are so 
sure that large numbers of Missourians are getting ready to attack 
Lawrence on Tuesday, that messengers are sent out to count 
the wagons. They return saying all is quiet. 



CHAPTER VIII 

aENERAL DISCOMFORT — MURDER OF DOW. 

Oct. \4ith. — A beautiful day. The air is hazy from the many 
fires on the prairie, which are burning day and night. They are 
a grand and sublime sight when spreading over a large tract, the 
tall grass waving with every breeze, now fiercely blazing^ and now 
with graceful undulating motion, looking indeed like a " sea of 
flame," when the fiery billows surge and dash fearfully ; or when 
the winds are still, like an unruffled, quiet burning lake. Doctor 
went to Wakarusa again to visit some sick friends. Word had 
been sent us of a new road, and we attempted to find it. After 
leaving the old road and riding some distance across the prairie, 
where there was no track, and through fields partly fenced, we 
came to a line of timber, where all our directions failed, and the 
straight way seemed wholly lost. As we were halting to decide 
upon our course, a woman came toward us from a little cabin not 
far ofi". She directed us to a little foot-path through the timber, 
and we followed it, turning this way and that to avoid crushing 
the wheels against the trees, and at every moment bending low to 
save our heads from striking the huge branches. After a quarter 
of a mile of such travelling, we were at the crossing. And such 
a crossing ! If the old crossing was poor, this was so in a super- 
lative sense, so very steep and abrupt. We went into the water 
with a lurch, almost tearing the body of the carriage from the 
wheels. A man came to the opposite bank, which was some twelve 
feet high, and not lacking much of being perpendicular, and by 
motions, and a few words we could hear, made us understand that 
we must keep down the river a little further, in the attempt to 
cross. Coming to the other shore, there was a little bank about 



96 KANSAS. 

a foot higli, tlien a level broad enough for the wagon to stand 
upon, before reaching the perpendicular hill. The horse was 
frightened, and unwilling to take us out of the water. Doctor 
jumped out to the shore, and I was gathering strength for a simi- 
lar leap, when one foot broke through the bottom of the buggy, 
and I was fairly caught. However, as the doctor was holding 
both my hands, I did not go into the water. The horse, finding 
himself without a load, walked out of the river. A consultation 
was then held with the man on the bank, as to the probability of 
getting to the summit with the carriage. He said he had never 
seen any carriages go up, but oxen had been. By leading the 
horse and pushing the carriage, the height was gained, while I 
clambered up by a winding path, over huge logs, and whatever 
came in my way. We returned to L. by still another route. 

On the ninth of October the election for territorial delegate to 
Congress, and delegates to the Constitutional Convention, was 
held. In Lawrence, five hundred and fifty-seven votes were polled 
for Gov. Reeder. 

21st. — The weather is getting frosty, and reminds us that 
bland airs and summer skies do not always last. Mr. W. arrived 
from Boston. He has had a long and tedious trip through Mis- 
souri by cars, boat and stage, and has had some conversation with 
the people. In fact, he has seen something of the ruffians. 

2dd. — Mr. W. and Mr. P. return from Topeka nearly frozen. 
Mr. W. is much pleased with the country, though he sees it under 
most unfavorable circumstances. Business at home makes his 
stay here very short. He amuses us with his report of the 
crowded state of the boarding-houses at Topeka. Some dozen or 
more sleeping in an unfinished room, in berths like those on 
boats, while the cold was most severe. The place left for a 
window was wholly open, thus giving a free circulation to the 
frosty air. 

The Constitutional Convention, held at Topeka, was called 
together at one o'clock, Oct. 22, by J. A. Wakefield. A quorum 
not being present, the convention adjourned until Wednesday 
morning. The convention was called to order. Prayer by Bev 
H. S. Burgess. Roll called by J. K. Goodin. Thirty members 



GENERAL DISCOMFORT — MURDER OF DOW. 97 

responded. S. C. Smith, of Lawrence, was elected secretary; J. 
H. Lane, president. The oath of office was administered to the 
president and the several members bj J. A, Wakefield. Rev. 
Mr. Burgess chosen chaplain ; Mclntire, door-keeper ; Lyman 
Fjirnsworth, sei'geant-at-arms ; S. F. Tappan, reporter for the 
Herald of Freedom ; John Speer, reporter for the Kansas Trib- 
une ; E. C. K. Garrey, reporter for the Kansas Freeman ; J. 
Kedpath, reporter for the Missouri Democrat. 

Nov. 15^A. — Rainy and very chilly. A military supper in the 
evening. For two or three days men have been out in the woods 
hunting game ; and to-night a large number of our citizens have 
gathered to partake of the supper, and join in the general festivi- 
ties of the hour. Notwithstanding the rain, the mud being over 
shoes in depth, at an earl}'' hour the large dining-hall of the hotel 
was full of people, our neighbors and friends, while many came 
from miles away. A piano stood at the upper end of the room, 

— parlor and dining-hall being thrown into one, — and over the 
arch of the folding doors waved the " star-spangled banner," pre- 
sented to the military companies on the fourth of July. The 
tables occupying the length of the hall, in double rows, were loaded 
with wild game, rabbits, squirrels, prairie-chickens, turkeys, and 
one porker, — whether native of the country, deponent saith not, 

— while cakes of every variety, with pastry, grace the table. All 
this cooking was done by one lady, — one of the earliest settlers, 

— who has the Yankee adaptedness of character to the circum- 
stances in which she is placed. It was a New England gathering, 
though some, by their dress, tinsel ornaments, or their peculiarity 
of speech, showed that their home was further west. Some of the 
latter were asking continually, " When will the supper be ready? 
If there is going to be anything to eat, let us have it now." That 
our people are eminently social, the frequent public gatherings 
here and at Topeka will bear witness. A person coming in to 
mingle in the scene would never realize he was in a newly settled 
country, or in a town scarcely a year old. 

I'ith. — We heard yesterday that Mr. C, who for several weeks 
has been very ill, but had partially recovered, is taken down again 
with symptoms of fever and ague. The weather is exceedingly 
9 



98 KANSAS. 

cold, and he is in a little " shake " cabin, where the wind creeps 
in at every crevice, playing hide-and-seek with the papers pasted 
on the walls. The house has but one room, beside a little attiv, 
which is used for kitchen, dining-room, bed-room, sick-room, and 
general receiving-room. Worn out with Mr. C.'s long illness, and 
that of her little daughter, the lady, who has watched over him 
with a mother's gentleness, is also ill. I send to Mr. C. to come 
to our house if he can be brought ; and soon a carriage drives up 
with the shadow, pale and ethereal, which sickness has left of Mr. 
C, wrapped up in coats to the number of three, with comforters 
and other articles to keep the cold from striking his attenuated 
frame. He says, in his own peculiar way, " I thought, Mrs. R., 
I would never be here again ; but it is delightful, and I feel better 
now." 

The sun was shining pleasantly in at the windows, the fire was 
crackling in the stove, spreading a genial warmth throughout the 
I'oom, and, seated in the nice large rocker drawn up before it, Mr. 
C. could look out upon the beautiful country miles east and south, 
and, in his enthusiastic love of nature, would forget his own ills. 
It was pleasant to see the effect of physical comfort. Now, with 
outward cheerfulness, came inner strength and courage. Naturally 
of very slender constitution, with too much mental power for the 
physical, with energy and inherent love for freedom and justice, 
Mr. C. has, in working for the cause here, gone beyond his 
strength, and pays the penalty in a wasted frame and general 
prostration. There han been a good deal of sickness in the coun- 
try this fall, — slow fever and chills. They prevail mostly in the 
low grounds near the rivers. We hear from some settlements, 
especially from those south on the Neosho, that sickness has laid 
its heavy hand on the strongest, and scarcely any have escaped 
the paralyzing blow. So far as we can learn, exposures, either 
necessary or unavoidable, have been the cause. 

The colony at Hampden has suffered most deplorably. The 
facts, as given me by one of the residents, are these : There were 
one hundred members of the colony, men, women and children, 
when they arrived in the territory. When the town site was laid 
off, there were over sixty men to receive their apportionment of 



GENERAL DISCOMFORT — MURDER OF DOW. 99 

lots. Thej came in April, and in order to provide for the winter 
store, tliej thought first of all it was necessary to get the seed 
into the ground, they living meanwhile in tents. All their ener- 
gies, forgetful of present necessities, seemed to be directed to their 
future good. Health and valuable lives were sacrificed thereby. 
There was no saw-mill, and whatever houses they made at last 
were of logs and " shakes." There were very few springs in the 
vicinity, consequently they drank of the river water, which is slow 
and sluggish, and, when the dry season came, was covered with a 
green substance found upon all stagnant water, although good 
water could be obtained by digging twenty-five feet, as one or two 
wells proved. 

With sickness of body came heart-sickness, and a yearning for 
pleasant New England homes ; and most of those who lived 
through such discouragements either went to other settlements 
or returned. 

At Osawattomie, situated near the junction of the Potawattomie 
and Osage, in a pleasant, though rather low country, fever has 
burned up the blood of many, leaving wan cheeks and livid lips 
Yet, every one is free to acknowledge that no country has a purer 
atmosphere, or more healthful climate. In cases of sickness in 
Lawrence, they have, so far as I know, been owing to some gross 
outrage of the physical laws of our being, some unwarranted over- 
exertion of energies either mental or physical ; a knowledge of 
such undue effort being confessed to by the individual, with the 
expectation that sickness would follow. 

The climate, or the country, should bear no part of the blame. 
It is a question whether, in the necessary exposures of our new 
homes, the never-ceasing labors incident to such a situation, we 
are as guilty as those who court sickness in the states, by rash 
violation of the laws which govern us. 

The cholera raged for a time upon the Wakarusa, for which 
drinking of the stagnant water in the river's bed, the result of an 
unprecedented drouth of ten months, and in many cases a sad 
want of personal cleanliness, was the prolific cause. About the 
same time, a gentleman near the same region walked into Law- 
rence in the heat of the day, with perspiration starting from every 



100 KANSAS. 

pore, and blood at fever heat. He plunged into the river for a 
cooling bath, remaining some time. A pleasant coolness was in- 
duced ; but the blood was driven back from the extremities, to 
course madly about the internal organs. Soon after eating a 
hearty supper^ he retired. The awaking, after a short, restless 
sleep, came with bitter pains, and life-crushing agonies. Death 
in a few hours closed the scene. The stricken wife, coming to 
gladden his home, heard of this sudden blighting of her hopes, as 
she reached Kansas city. On the Missouri river, too, sickness 
has ruled the hour ; and some who bade their friends good-by in 
the old, dearly loved home, to seek a new one beneath the sunny 
skies of Kansas, found a grave on those dreary Missouri shores. 
They call the sickness such as the water produces ; we call it the 
result of their ungoverned appetites. The tables upon the boats 
are loaded with every delicacy that man can invent. Meats with 
rich gravies, the richest of pastries and cakes, jellies, ices, fruit 
and nuts, tempt the palate. Can any stomach bear a mingling 
together of all these, and give no sign of ill usage, no cry for a 
reprieve ? Yet many are the instances where such overtasking 
of life's energies has resulted in a brief sickness, and a burial in 
the waters. Others have lived to reach the territory in time to 
die there. 

One man went on to one of the boats with a large bunch of rad- 
ishes in his hand. The captain warned him, it being the cholera 
season, but he said he " could eat them, or anything else, without 
danger." But ere the morning sun arose, the death damps were 
heavy on his brow, and the eye recognized no longer the friends, 
though strangers, who administered to his fast-fiiling necessities. 
Another man, who was ill upon the boat, reached Kansas city, 
and there drank \erj freely of ice-water, not heeding the sugges- 
tions of others who thought it unsafe. The same afternoon he 
walked out eight miles, and back into the country. The next day 
he walked out again. He was taken most violently ill. The next 
evening, at the sunset hour, the ..tall trees in the leafy wood were 
waving over his western grave, and the moaning winds sang his 
requiem. 

The poor, homesick youth, whose vision has been bounded by 



GENERAL DISCOMFORT — MURDER OE DOW. 101 

the smoke of their mother's kitchen chimney, go East again with 
direful stories of the dread poison in the Missouri waters, and that 
there is death in the springs of Kansas. Some persons do not 
drink the water clear, but add brandy, or drink Eochelle powders ; 
as if the drink which God provided for his creatures was not as 
health-giving as the substitutes of man, making their wisdom 
greater than his! 

It is a fact that in Kansas city, within the short space of two 
hours' time, ten young men died, — victims to cholera, the papers 
stated. They did not state that they were most dissolute and 
intemperate, ready for the sickle when the reaper came. 

Many statements have appeared in eastern papers, from the 
pens of some fresh from the counting-rooms of their employers, 
or the school-room, and unfitted either by nature or by habit to 
battle with life in its stern realities. They came to this country, 
dazzled by the lure of their own visionary hopes, which, with many 
people, makes all in the distance look bright and golden, but the 
intervening space passed over has the same dull hue of the last 
stand-point. These statements wear the color of disappointment, 
with a sly vein of revenge upon somebody running through all 
a bitterness, and a general tone of falsehood. The little discom- 
forts by the way, of crowded cars and overloaded boats, with per- 
haps a bed upon the cabin floor, instead of the private chamber 
with its nice appliances for comfort they have left, cause the 
bright vision to which distance lent enchantment to grow suddenly 
dim. They reach Kansas city, and find the levee a perfect crowd 
of men and horses, Mexican drivers from Santa Fe, with their 
mules half wild, and always headstrong — each man looking out 
for himself, as the one thing especially uppermost in his mind, 
not mindful of the attractions these kid-gloved, gaiter-booted, 
jewelled gentry display. They look upon the brick walls of 
stores and warehouses along the levee, upon which the sun glares 
wildly, and upon the water, where the reflection gleams and glit- 
ters, and at length reach the hotel whose rooms are already 
full of wearied mothers and sick children. Where will our dainty 
selves find rest ? is a question anxiously asked by them, but unan- 
swered. Shall we wonder, then, that they turn a lingering look 
9* 



102 KANSAS. 

homeward, unimpressed as they are with the reality, that life's 
mission is to " battle and be strong? " When they find no softly- 
cushioned car ready to transport them to the little town of Law- 
rence, to which distance still lends a charm, and if the stage and 
hacks aro full, the emigrant wagons alone affording a passage, 
can we wonder at the lengthening of their wayworn faces ? The 
hill difficulty is to be surmounted, and stands between them and 
the end of their journey, like a towering mountain. Little hearts, 
carried along, until now, upon the smooth travelled paths which 
their fathers have marked out, and buoyed above deep waters 
by encouraging words of doting mammas and flattering friends, and 
lulled into silken dreams by the general consenting voice of society, 
that life has in it nothing " real," nothing " earnest," save to 
float gayly on its summer tides, — where is your courage now ? 
Where is your hope for success in life? Where that energy which 
will scale mountains amid winter's battling snows? Where, 
with such automatons as you, would have been the world's great 
men — her Howards, her Newtons, her Washingtons, or her 
Napoleons ? 

Some of these poor apologies of humanity leave directly on the 
next boat, on a home-bound ticket. As an excuse for the shortness 
of their stay, they recapitulate the thousand-and-one stories which 
the Missourians repeat to many emigrants; such as no water, no 
wood, the ground parched, and cracked open in large seams, the 
people dying of starvation, etc. etc. Some others, however, a 
little afraid of the jests which would meet them did they return 
with the old story, " There are giants in the land," make a 
prodigious effort, and, upon a spring] ess cart, it may be, reach 
Lawrence. As they approach the little town, with buildings of 
wood and stone erected and being erected, with the pioneer build- 
ings thatched (now used as stables) intermingled, how their visions 
fade, and the glittering palaces of their imaginations fall ! The 
town of six months' existence boasted nothing but bare comforts ; 
but these foolish youths write home how they have to sleep upon 
the floor, with a buffalo robe only between them and the cotton- 
wood boards, with five or six others in the same room ; that the 
windows to the boarding-house are of cloth instead of glass ; that 



GENERAL DISC(J]MFORT — MURDER OF DOW. 103 

there are large cracks in the wall, through which the wind and 
dust blow , that there are larger cracks in the floor overhead, 
and through them the straw falls upon the table below ; that but- 
ter is scarce ; and many other like troubles, which make them say, 
in vexation of spirit, " I am weary, I am weary, I am sick of this 
poor life ! " Does any one need further evidence that they are 
men of sense ? These temporary arrangements were the growth 
of the hour. They were not intended, u i permanent institutions, 
and more comfortable dwellings have taken their place. The 
Yankee enterprise and thrift which remained after the thorough 
sifting of the early spring, in spite of fear of cholera and lack of 
general comforts, have added things most needed. The absence 
of those delicate youths who needed sofas to lounge upon, and 
silver forks for their especial use, is the greatest blessing of all. 
A new country, especially, wants no drones in the hive ; and in a 
country like this, and in this age, when the battle is for freedom, 
and the hue and cry of our enemies, " Death to the Yankees ! " is 
ever ringing in our ears, we want men, and not creatures claim- 
ing to be possessed of manliness, who have not enough of that 
spirit to be willing, for freedom's sake, to forego some trivial com- 
forts, and, like the fathers of '76, who bore the severest privations, 
bide the hour, and with willing hands and strong hearts aid to 
make this country, in its institutions as in soil and climate, the 
garden of the world. Where would have been the liberties, which, 
as a precious heir-loom, have come to us, had our fathers been of 
such sickly, such squeamish sensibility ? We do not deny there 
have been discomforts ; but what new country was ever settled with- 
out them ? The people of Illinois, in times of low water on the Ohio, 
in the early settlement of that country, have had nothing to eat 
but bread made of shorts with stewed pumpkin. In Pennsylvania, 
with no over supply of mills, fifty miles often being the shortest 
distance to one in running order in low water, for weeks the 
early settlers lived on potatoes. Did not our great grandmothers 
live on bean-porridge, weave all the clothing for the family, and, 
at the same time, gird their husbands and sons for the battle, out 
of their love for justice and right? We have fallen on degen- 
erate times. The "lines have fallen to us in pleasant places ; " 



104 KANSAS. 

but the love of liberty has grown weak. A sad wailing comes 
up over the land — a wailing for the departed spirit of '76. 

21st. — Charles Dow, a young free-state man from Ohio, was 
killed to-day by Col 3man, a pro-slavery man, at Hickory Point. 
Some dispute had arisen about a claim, and Coleman had repeat- 
edly threatened to kill Dow. This morning Dow went to a black- 
smith's shop, at some distance from Mr. Branson's, where he 
boarded. Mr. Branson proposed he should take his gun with 
him as a means of protection, but he declined doing so. Having 
finished his business at the shop, he left to return to Mr. Branson's ; 
and when a few rods on his way, hearing the click of a gun, he 
turned around, and received the whole charge in his breast. The 
gun was a double-barrelled shot-gun, and loaded with slugs. This 
happened about one o'clock ; and the murdered body was left by 
the barbarians lying by the side of the road where he fell until 
sundown. Some of the accessories then sent word to Mr. Bran- 
son " that a dead body was lying by the roadside." He had 
begun to fear some ill had befallen his friend, and, at once recog- 
nizing the body, conveyed it to his house. Coleman is his mur- 
derer, while Harrison Buckley and Hargous were privy to it. 
There is no doubt that it was a delit)^x•ate act. 

Such things are winked at by our governor, no effort being 
made to bring offenders to justice. Our courts are the very 
mockery of justice. Cole McCrea, a free-state man, having, in 
self-defence, killed Malcolm Clark, is confined for months. Judge 
Lecompte packs the jury in order to get him indicted. A meet- 
ing was held at Leavenworth, in May, at which resolutions most 
intolerant in their character, proposing outrage and violence upon 
the persons of free-state settlers, were passed. Thirty men, as a 
committee of vigilance, were also appointed, " to observe and 
report all such persons as shall, by the expression of abolition 
sentiments, produce disturbance to the quiet of the citizens, or 
danger to the domestic relations ; and all such persons so offend- 
ing shall be notified and made to leave the territory." "The 
meeting was ably and eloquently addressed by Judge Lecompte, 
Col. J, N. Burns, of Western Missouri, and others '" Such is the 
judge the federal government has sent us — a man of partisan 



GENERAL DISCOMFOET — MURDER OF DOW. 105 

character, who throws his whole influence upon the side of vio- 
lence and disorder, and is aiming to form the domestic institutions 
of the territory. Collins, a free-state man, was shot, not long 
since, by Pat Laughlin, and no notice was taken of it by the 
government. If Coleman should be arrested, have we not good 
reason to believe, though the evidence was clear as the sunlight 
that his hand was stained with the blood of a fellow-creature, 
that Judge Lecompte would so pack a jury as to clear the cul- 
prit ? The design of the pro-slavery men is to drive out all who 
are firm and true to the principles of freedom, and in this design 
the officials sympathize. Justice weeps at the shameless course 
of her executors in this territory. 

2^th. — A friend is over from Blanton. The citizens of that 
region and Hickory Point are much aroused by the murder of 
Dow. He was a mild and peaceable young man, much esteemed 
by those who knew him. He had recently received a letter from 
his friends, in which they urge him to come home, as they fear 
his life is in danger. Our friend S. has just answered the letter, 
and borne to them also the sad tidings of their son's decease by 
the bloody hand of slavery's minions. Another martyr* has fallen 
on the green plains of Kansas for those rights which Heaven 
vouchsafes to every human creature with his breath of life. A 
meeting to take into consideration the bloody deed, and their 
murderous designs, as the lives of other free-state men are sought 
after with vile, fiendish threats, is called for next Monday, Nov. 
26. The murderer has fled to Missouri. 

Tlth. — Tuesday morning. At about four o'clock, this morning, 
was awakened by the hurried tramp of horses' feet approaching 
the house. A loud knock upon the door soon followed, with the 
instantaneous halloa, so common in this western country, used 
instead of the more courteous civilities of conventional life, saving 
the rider the trouble of dismounting. Eecognizing the voice, my 
husband asked, " What 's wanted ? " 

The voice outside replied, "Jones, with a party of Missourians, 
had taken from his house a Mr. Branson. He has been rescued 
by a party of free-state men, and they are now on their way hero. 



106 KANSAS. 

Runners have gone to Missouri, and there will be a battle fought 
this morning." 

The simple question asked was, " Where? " 

And the brief reply, " Down here on the plain," was only a 
little startling. 

The horseman drove away, and we heard already the sound of 
the drum, and the quick words of the captain of the little band 
of rescuers, as they came upon the brow of the hill beyond us. 
Scarcely had the fire been built ere the simple word, " Halt ! " in 
a tone of command, was spoken, and a line fronting the house 
quickly formed. The slight form of the leader stood a little 
nearer the door ; and, when his peculiarly dry manner of speech 
fell upon the ear in his brief inquiry, " Is Dr. E.. in? " his iden- 
tity was also known. The doctor opened the door, and invited 
them in. 

The fact of the rescue was stated, and Mr. Branson, being in 
the ranks, was ordered to " step forward, and tell his story," 
which he did with much feeling, and with the appearance of a 
person who is heart-broken. I shall never forget the appearance 
of the men in simple citizen's dress, some armed and some un- 
armed, standing in unbroken line, just visible in the breaking light 
of a November morning. This little band, of less than twenty 
men, had, through the cold and upon the frozen ground, walked 
ten miles since nine o'clock of the previous evening. Mr. Bran- 
son, a large man, of fine proportions, stood a little forward of the 
line, with his head slightly bent, which an old straw hat hardly 
protected from the cold, looking as though, in his hurry of de- 
parture from home in charge of the ruffianly men, he took what- 
ever came first. As he, in simple, unafi"ected style, told of this 
outrage upon humanity, we felt that, as in days when men left 
their ploughs in the furrows at their country's call, so now have 
come again " days which try men's souls," and that this may be 
the beginning of a contest which shall drench the whole country 
in blood. Now, as then, we need strong hearts to battle for the 
right — to die, it may be, if the sacrifice is needed. 

The drum beat again, and the rescuers and rescued passed 
lown to Lawrence. After telling E. she had better take another 



GENERAL DISCOMFORT — MURDER OF DOW. 107 

nap, in order to be prepared for any emergency which might arise, 
I again fell asleep, leaving my husband thinking over the matter 
by the parlor stove, and was awakened again, as the sun was 
rising, by the screams of cayotes in the distance. The first im- 
pression was that the Missourians had come. The facts of the 
rescue are these : The people of Hickory Point yesterday held 
the proposed meeting in reference to the murder of Dow, and 
passed resolutions condemning the wanton outrage, and that Cole- 
man should be brought to justice. He, in the mean time, had 
gone to Gov. Shannon, at the Shawnee Mission, for protection. 
He was there taken into custody by Samuel J. Jones, who, it will 
be remembered, was engaged in the burning of two settlers' 
houses at Lecompton, on the pretence that the claims were his, 
while he is a citizen and acting postmaster at Westport, Mo. 
This pretence of taking Coleman into custody was done without 
any warrant being issued, or examination had. 

On yesterday morning a peace-warrant was made out by Hugh 
Cameron, of Lawrence, at the instigation of Bradley, a pro- 
slavery man living at Hickory Point, against Jacob Branson, the 
friend of the murdered Dow, and was placed in the hands of 
Jones. In the evening, after Mr. Branson, with his family, had 
retired, Jones, with a party of mounted men, rode up to his lone 
cabin upon the prairies, a half-mile from neighbors. He knocked 
at the door. To the question, " Who is there ? " the reply was 
given, " A friend." " Come in, then," was the response, and the 
little cabin was full of men — rough, savage, armed men. Jones 
went to the bedside, and, presenting his pistol to Branson's breast, 
said, " You are my prisoner." 

Mr. Branson asked, " By what authority? " 

Oaths, and the threat, " I will blow you through," were the 
decisive answer. The others, with guns cocked, gathered around, 
and took him prisoner. Thus, in the night, was an innocent, 
dsfenceless man taken from his home and family by a gang of 
twenty-five whiskey-drinking ruffians, showing no papers of arrest, 
and answering with oaths and threats of instant death any ques- 
tions as to the cause of such summary, unlawful proceeding.^. 
They proceeded to Buckley's house, and, after stopping a while, by 



108 KANSAS. 

a long and winding way to elude pursuers, they took the route to 
Blanton's Bridge. They strengthened their valor by taking an- 
other " drink." Jones, running in his horse by the side of Mr. 
Branson, said, " I heard there were one hundred men at your 
house to-day," and talked a good deal " of the sport they would 
have had with them," and regretted " being cheated out of it." 

This affair, though done in the darkness, was soon brought to 
light. The people felt that the life of another of their citizens 
was to be taken by the hands of a lawless mob, at the suggestion 
of two men who were the accessories to the murder of Dow, and 
who were connected with this new outrage. Earnestly, as honest 
men will act when they feel that life is at stake, and that the life 
of a valued friend, these settlers acted ; and the tidings jflew on the 
speed of wings from one claim to another, until a few, a lesser 
number than the party with Jones, were gathered together. With 
the intention of rescuing the prisoner from a cruel death, they 
took a nearer route than that taken by Jones, and reached the 
house of Mr. Abbott, where they made a stand. The settlers 
were only ten or twelve in number, partially armed, and on foot, 
while the party now with Jones, whose numbers had somewhat 
fallen off, was mounted and armed. Soon after the settlers had 
reached Mr. A.'s house, and had recovered their breath after 
their running walk, Jones and his party appeared on a full canter. 
As soon as they saw the little band of footmen, they endeavored 
to avoid them by passing the other side of the house. The set- 
tlers understood the ruse, and passed quickly around to meet 
them, forming, as they did so, in a line across the road. 
Jones and his party halted, and asked, " What 's up ? " 
The reply was, " That 's what we want to know — ' What 's up ? ' " 
Some one from the band of settlers asked, " Is Mr. Branson 
with you ? " 

He answered for himself, " I am here, and a prisoner." 
The word of command given from the little band of footmen 
was, " Bide out to our side," which he did without hesitation, 
notwithstanding Jones' threat of " I '11 shoot you." A question 
then was raised by the free-state men as to the ownership of the 
horse he was riding ; and, as he said it was not his, he was ordered 



GENERAL DISCOMFORT — MURDER OF DOW. 109 

to dismount, which order likewise he obeyed. With threats of 
aid from JMissouri, which long ago became stereotyped, Jones and 
his party wheeled about, leaving the few unarmed footmen the 
winners of the night. Not a word was lisped of the rare " sport " 
they would have had if they could have found the one hundred 
assembled men ; and now, when the party was smaller than their 
own, Jones shook nervously, and offered nothing but wordy vio- 
lence. Jones and party rode on to Franklin, the little village 
below Lawrence. The whole matter, the rescue, etc., was talked 
over therC; Jones standing by. It was suggested that a decision 
be made as to the propriety of sending for aid to Col. Boone, of 
Westport, Mo., Jones' father-in-law, or to Gov. Shannon. The 
question seemed to be, which would be most likely to furnish the 
desired assistance in demolishing the doomed tov/n of Lawrence. 
Now was the time for the war. The time specified by the Blue 
Lodges, two months since, had arrived. The harvests in Missouri 
were in, and the people there could, without injury to their busi- 
ness, attend to the matter; and navigation on the Missouri river 
had closed for the season. Jones therefore wrote a despatch, and 
sent it by a messenger, remarking, as he started, " That man is 
taking my despatch to Missouri, and, by G — d ! I will have 
revenge before I see Missouri." Some complaint was made by a 
bystander that this despatch was not sent to the governor, where- 
upon he sent one to him, Hargous being the messenger. 

Early on the morning of the 27th, the drum-beat, calling the 
citizens together, was heard in the little town of Lawrence. The 
noise of the hammer was still ; but in the firm tread and thought- 
ful countenances of the men, as they walked up the stairway to 
the hall where the meeting for consultation was to be held, the 
spirit of '76 was visible, and a determination, if they must fight 
against oppression as our fathers did, that a new Lexington or 
Concord on Kansas plains should go down to posterity with the 
unsullied honor of her defenders. 

S. N. Wood, Esq., was appointed chairman of the meeting. 

He spoke briefly of the murder, of the meeting of the day before 

in the same neighborhood, of the arrest of Mr. Branson, with 

whom Mr. Dow had lived, of the rescue of the prisoner without 

10 



110 KANSAS. 

bloodshed, and of the necessity that he and the rest of the com- 
munity be defended from similar threatened attacks. Mr. Bran- 
son then made his statement. He is an elderly man, of most quiet 
and modest deportment. He was much moved, the emotions of his 
heart, broken by the death of his friend, almost forbidding utterance. 
Now the laceration was made yet deeper by this wanton assault 
upon himself, and there was the thought of the terrible suspgise 
as to his fate, making the hours long and weary for the desolate 
wife in that lone cabin. All these things tended to crush the spirit 
of the man, unused to such barbarities ; and, with tears at times 
stealing down his weather-beaten cheeks, he said he had been 
requested by some friends to leave Lawrence, to seek some other 
place of safety, so that no semblance even of an excuse could 
be given to the enemy for an attack upon Lawrence. He said he 
would go — Lawrence should not be involved in difficulty on his 
account. If it was the decision of the majority, he would leave. 
He would rather go to his home, and die there, and be buried by 
the side of his friend. This statement, full of feeling, touched the 
hearts of the men, who felt they, too, might soon be battling in the 
death-struggle for their own hearth-stones, and cries of " No ! no ! " 
resounded through the still room. 

G. P. Lowrey, Esq., then proposed a committee of ten should 
be appointed to advise for the common defence. . He had not hith- 
erto acted in these matters, but the threatening aspect of affairs 
now demanded action upon the part of all our citizens. The meas- 
ure proposed was purely defensive. Mr. Lowrey 's remarks met 
with a warm response in the feelings of all, and his proposition 
was adopted. 

Mr. Conway said they were on the eve of important events, and 
they must have a care to take every step properly. They ignored 
and repudiated the Legislature which held its session at the Shaw- 
nee Mission. They would never give in their allegiance to such 
a monstrous iniquity. To the United States authorities, to the 
organic act, to the courts created under it, and to the judges and 
marshals appointed by the President, they would yield obedience. 
They might oppress them, but they would submit and seek redress 
for grievances at the United States Supreme Coui't, which would 



GENERAL DISCOMFORT — MURDER OF DOW. Ill 

give them a fair hearing. They must move with prudence, and, 
having resolved upon the true course, maintain it fearlessly. 

S. N. Wood did not hesitate to say he was in the rescue of the 
night before ; he knew the importance of the step. He was una- 
ble to express his feelings when the clicking of the gunlocks sounded 
in the darkness, telling that the hour had come for a deadly con- 
flict. He was equally unable to do so when, without firing one 
shot, these men, who had boasted so much, gave up the prisoner, 
declining to fight a number less than their own, and with fewer 
arms. When he spoke of the justice of the peace who figured 
in this transaction, and received his office from the bogus Legisla- 
ture, and whose name was Cameron, a general? hiss expressed the 
utter abhorrence of the audience. Others spoke of this man liv- 
ing in our midst, who had professed to be a free-state man, and 
who was now a willing instrument, in the hands of these vile men, 
to enforce such measures upon us. It was moved that a committee 
of three be appointed to wait on Cameron, and demand by what 
authority he acted. The meeting then adjourned until two o'clock. 



CHAPTER IX. 

WAKAEUSA WAR — PREPARATIONS. 

We cannot now tell what an hour may bring forth. This whole 
affair is probably gotten up to test the power of Gov. Shannon, and 
his accomplices, in carrying out the laws of the Shawnee Mission 
School Legislature, which he says " shall be enforced ; " in the 
accomplishment of which he said he would call upon Missouri for 
aid, even before coming into the territory whose people he was 
sent to govern. No writs of arrest have been attempted to be 
served upon our people for breaking any of their infamous laws. 
Now the time, in the estimation of the worthy law-makers, seems 
to have arrived, when the laws shall be enforced, or at least an 
excuse be found for destroying Lawrence, whose prosperity has 
long been a terrible eyesore to the stockholders in the town of 
Lecompton. 

Will the free-state men yield their rights ? Will they obey 
these laws ? As we look each man in the face this morning, we 
read there manliness and determination, — no crouching to tyrants. 
And each man remembers that " resistance to tyrants is obedience 
to God." 

We have nothing good to expect from the territorial officers, and 
Gov. Shannon is sold, body and soul, to the oppressing party. The 
events of last summer, especially of the last few months, have 
shown, too clearly to be mistaken, the infamous designs of those in 
power here. On Saturday, April 30th, McCrea, a lawyer of 
Leavenworth, shot Malcolm Clark, a pro-slavery politician, in self- 
defence. He had a long and rigorous imprisonment at the fort, 
and in the jail. At the court in September they failed to find a 
bill of indictment against him, as the Grand Jury could not 



WAKARUSA WAR — PREPARATIONS. 113 

agree. At that time Col. Lane, of Lawrence, went to Leaven- 
worth to offar McCrea his seiyices as counsel, which Judge Le- 
compte refused, as Col. Lane would not take the oath to support 
the laws of the Legislature of the Shawnee Mission. A majority 
of the jury were for acquit*-:il, and the remainder were divided, 
one thinking the prisoner guilty of murder, and a few of man- 
slaughter. At the adjourned term of the court in November, 
Judge Lecompte had added seven new members to the Grand 
Jury, and a bill of indictment for murder in the first degree was 
found against him. Four of the counsel within the bar, and offi- 
cers acting at this tribunal, including the clerk of the court, were 
connected with the lynching of Phillips, also a lawyer at Leaven- 
worth, on the 17th of May. At this adjourned session of the 
court, a motion was made, by one of the attorneys, to dismiss the 
clerk, and one of the attorneys who had been thus engaged, affida- 
vits having been filed to prove the facts ; but the court did not 
grant the motion. Thus, while one man is imprisoned for months, 
a jury packed that a bill may be found against him, and he is 
tried by those who are guilty of the most abominable crimes, they 
go unpunished, no effort being made to bring them to justice. 

Several of these grand jurors were standing outside of the 
court-house, one day, while several free-state men were within, 
and, speaking of them, asked *' if it would n't be best to take out 
a few of those fellows, and string them up. Could n't the lav/s 
be so construed as to render it legal? " What justice can any one 
expect from such executors of the laws? At this time, also, the 
following call for a convention of the " law and order " party was 
published in all their papers : 

*' GRAND MASS CONVENTION AT LEAVENWORTH CITY, NOV. 14Tn, '55. 

"The law-abiding citizens of Kansas Territory, without distinc- 
tion of party, will hold a grand mass convention, at Leavenworth, 
on November 14th. Let there be a grand rally of the law and order 
citizens of the territory. Friends of the constitution and laws, 
turn out, appoint delegates from every neighborhood, and come 
yourselves, and show that there is a grand and glorious party 
in the territorj", who are determined to stand by the constituted 
10* 



114 KANSAS. 

authorities of the land. Let come what will, show that you are 
determined to rally around the bulwarks of the constitution, and 
maintain the laws. Let every county in the territory be fully 
represented. By order of 

" Andrew J. Isaacs, R. R. Rees, "^ 

John A. Halderman, L. F. HoLLiNGswoRTn, ! „ 

D. J. Johnson, D. A. N. Geover, j 

Wm. Gr. Mathias, J 

Some of these men are President Pierce's appointees in the ter- 
ritory. A part of these were connected in the mobbing of Phil- 
lips, while others were of the invading horde who trampled upon 
the constitution, and all the rights it ensures to freemen, at the 
election of the 30th of March. This talk of rallying around the 
constitution, and maintaining the laws, sounds well coming from 
such men ! At this meeting Gov. Shannon presided, committing 
himself wholly to the partisan movement. He declared that the 
iniquitous laws passed by men from, and chosen by, Missouri, 
" shall be enforced." He entered into a league with these men 
that he would do all in his power to oppress the other party. He 
called the free-state party a " faction," although he knew that the 
convention at Topeka was elected by votes of at least three fourths 
of the residents of the territory, and was comprised of men of all 
political opinions. He yet rushed on recklessly, led by blind lead- 
ers, and desiring nothing but that free Kansas shall bear the gall- 
ing yoke of slavery. 

Gen. Calhoun addressed the meeting. Among other choice tit- 
bits, he said : " Shall abolitionists rule you? No, never ! Give 
them all they demand, and abolitionism becomes the law of the 
land. You yield, and you have the most infernal government that 
ever cursed a land. I would rather be a painted slave over in 
Missouri, or a serf to the czar of Russia, than have the abolition- 
ists in power. (Tremendous cheers.) Look at the outrages men- 
tioned in their journals, of babies shot through the sides of houses, 
etc. There is nothing so low or mean but abolition papers are 
found to tell it. We, the Union-loving and State-rights party, 
of Kansas, have kept too s'ill, and allowed the nullifiers to pro- 



"WAKARUSA WAR — PREPARATIONS. 115 

claim millions of lies. This is a great question for abolitionists to 
make capital out of. We must not allow it to go on here. We 
must stop its growth. It tramples upon the laws of the land. Say- 
to your governor, ' Enforce the laws ; we will stand by you, and, 
if necessary, we will spill our life's blood to enforce them ! ' The 
governor will be with you. The governor calls for all to help 
him, except abolitionists. He calls to men of all states ; but he 
don't want abolitionists." 

After Gen. Calhoun had pursued this strain of remark a while 
longer, he took his seat, and Mr. Parrott arose to speak. He, 
however, gave way to an amendment offered by Gen. Clark to the 
motion of Dr. Stringfellow, " law and order " men being substi- 
tuted for " pro-slavery " men, in constituting a delegate to the 
meeting. Mr. Parrott had an interview with the governor, before 
the evening session, and stated his desire to speak ; to which the 
governor, with very pro-slaveryish leanings, replied, " He did not 
think anything he would say would be at all congenial to the feel- 
ings of the rest." Twice, after the first attempt to speak, Mr. 
Parrott addressed the chair ; but his honor by no sign acknowl- 
edo-ed he heard a sound. The feelings of the " law and order " 
gentry were expressed in hisses, and groans, and cries of " Put him 
out ! " Mr. Parrott's patience still lasted, and as he again ap- 
pealed to the chair, the gray head turned, as though on a pivot, 
upon the shoulders which bore the weight of some sixty years, and 
the coarse features were hidden from his sight. He continued : 
" By the order of this convention, I am a delegate (groans and 
hisses), and I claim the right to be heard (hisses and groans). As 
the friend and advocate of ' law and order,' I shall congratulate 
myself and the country if your labors shall result in strengthening 
that sentiment in the territory. (' Put him out,' and groans.) I 
was, as you know, a member of the Topeka Convention, and am 
unalterably attached to that cause (hisses and groans). Governor, 
your presence reminds me of other days, when, as th*^ standard- 
bearer of an undivided democracy, you stemmed the tide of polit- 
ical opposition which threatened to subvert our cherished princi- 
ples, in th3 state from which we hail. May I not venture to 
invoke the recollection of that time, to ask of you, and the friends 



116 KANSAS. 

bj whom you are now surrounded, a patient hearing of the cause 
I advocate." At this juncture, Dr. Stringfellow informed Mr. 
Parrott that the convention did not wish to hear a free-state man. 
A good deal of confusion ensuing, Mr. Parrott gave way to the 
bully crowd. 

A person after Gov. Shannon's own heart now took the floor, and, 
among other 'peaceful and 'patriotic sentiments, which brought 
down the house in cheers long and loud, were the following. 
Speaking of Kansas laws, he said, " For the safety of our prop- 
erty we must enforce them, for the preservation of our lives against 
higher law marauding. I endorse the sentiments of Gen. Cal- 
houn's speech, and, had I the tongue to be heard to every limit of 
this Union, I would proclaim it, so that old men, now standing on 
the brink of the grave, might hear it ; and I would sooner my tongue 
should cleave to the roof of my mouth, or my right arm be sev- 
ered from my body, than silently give over our beautiful country 
to ruthless abolitionism. We must enforce the laws, though we 
resort to the force of arms ; trust to our rifles, and make the blood 
flow as freely as do the turbid waters of the Missouri, that flows 
along our banks." Judge Lecompte said he would support " law 
and order." Dr. Stringfellow, and Johnson, one of the foremost 
in the gang who lynched Phillips, added their words of counsel. 
Such were the prime movers in this meeting — the governor, the 
judge, the surveyor-general, appointed by the national head, yet, 
first and foremost in a meeting made up of border desperadoes. 
Stringfellow, the pro-slavery apostle, was acting with them, a prom- 
inent officer of the meeting, and, only a few days previous, pub- 
lished an extra, which has the following significant sentence : •' Thus 
it is that the fight so long talked of has begun, and it is to be hoped 
that it will not be discontinued until Kansas Territory is rid of this 
' higher law ' and blood-thirsty set of negro thieves and outlaws." 
This was said in reference to the murder of Collins by PatLaugh- 
lin. Gov. Shannon, in conversation, said, " The laws are not so 
very bad," — notwithstanding, for even having in one's house the 
Declaration of Independence, or saying aught against slavery, one 
is exposed to incarceration within prison walls. After the meet- 
ing, Gov. Shannon and Surveyor-General Calhoun were the invited 



WAKARUSA WAR — PREPARATIONS. 117 

guests of Lyle and Johnson, notorious ruffians, and ringleaders in 
the mobbing of Phillips. Such being the facts of Gov. Shannon's 
course here, what can we expect? ^ones threatens that he will 
return to destroy Lawrence ; " not one stone shall be left standing." 
He asserts that " Shannon has promised him ten thousand men, to 
enforce the laws." It seems a little singular that such a promise 
should have been made, when not even one arrest has been 
attempted, to test the temper of our people. Where will the poor 
governor find ten thousand men to do his bidding ? 

With all these tri ths before them, our people cannot but see 
that preparations for defence are necessary ; and in the afternoon 
the adjourned meeting came together again. The pledge reported 
by Mr. Lowrey, as chairman of the committee, was carried through 
the hall, by the secretary of the meeting, and was signed, by those 
of the audience not belonging to volunteer companies, upon the 
stock of a Sharpe's rifle, that being used as the most convenient 
article at hand. The following was the pledge of union and 
mutual support : " We the citizens of Kansas Territory, finding 
ourselves in a condition of confusion and defencelessness so great 
that open outrage and mid-day murder are becoming the rule, and 
quiet and security the exception ; and whereas the law, the only 
authoritative engine to correct and regulate the excesses and wrongs 
of society, has never yet been extended to our territory, thus leav- 
ing us with no fixed or definite rule of action, or course of redress, 
we are reduced to the necessity of organizing ourselves together 
on the basis of first principles, and providing for the common 
defence and general security ; and here we pledge ourselves to the 
resistance of lawlessness and outrage, at all times, when required 
by the officers who may from time to time be chosen to superin- 
tend the movements of this organization." 

It is rumored that the Missourians will make the attack to-mor- 
row night. To complete the farce, Gov. Shannon, in person, it is 
said, will lead on his red-shirted, butternut-colored-trousered allies 
from Missouri, to subdue and crush his own people. Has he no 
sense, or has his brain become so muddled in the bad whiskey in 
which it floats, as to dull all his perceptions of justice or right ? 

28^/i. — Wednesday morning. A beautiful morning dawned 



118 KANSAS. 

upon us — so lovely one could scarcely realize, Ihat under the quiel 
soothing influence of such sunny skies, the brutal passions of met 
could so rage as to seek the destruction of their fellows. Diffi- 
cult, indeed, is it to feel that destruction is sworn against oui 
homes, and a price set upon the heads of some dear to us. Yet, 
our people, having decided upon their course of action, are again 
at their usual places of business. The warlike aspect of yesterday 
has given place to the busy, enterprising spirit of the past daily rou' 
tine which has characterized our people, and made the little city 
of a year give good promise of its future. Though at a moment's 
warning they could spring into line, armed for defence, externally 
everything looks peaceful. Occasionally, a horseman rides rapidly 
into town, and, after stopping a few moments, goes as rapidly out. 
It is rumored that a large force is gathering at Franklin; also 
another at Lecompton, fourteen miles above here. We do not 
credit such reports. Whom will they fight, if they come ? Will 
they dare, in this nineteenth century, in this boasted land of free- 
dom, to make a raid upon us, crying, " Extermination, and no quar- 
ter ! " A wholesome fear of consequences to themselves will 
prevent this. There will, probably, be a good deal of useless bra- 
vado, and they will strive to place us, if possible, in a wrong posi- 
tion before the world. There is a rumor, at evening, that an attack 
is threatened from Lecompton. The night is dark. E, and I are 
alone. About nine o'clock some gentlemen call, for a few minutes, 
who have been looking around on the hill beyond us, but saw no 
enemy. The hours were rapidly passing ; it was nearly eleven 
o'clock, and no one came from town. E. fell asleep in her chair; 
I went out upon the hill alone, in the darkness, and listened ; I heard 
nothing. I nearly dropped asleep upon the lounge, and was 
aroused by a loud knocking at the door, and three young men with 
Sharpe's rifles, and a cheerful " Good-evening," entered. ' They came 
as a guard, to see that no force comes mto town from the Lecomp- 
ton road. We talked a while of the prospect of the war, and 
were fully agreed as to the general character of the enemy, their 
failure of courage when they meet a foe equal in number, as Jones 
and party proved on the night of the 26th. We brought in extra 
candles and blankets, and went up stairs for a little sleep. 



WAKARUSA WAR — PREPARATIONS. 119 

2^th. — It is Thanksgiving day in Massachusetts, as in several 
other states. How anxious for us our friends would be, did they 
know just what dangers threaten us ! But as they now draw 
around the cheerful fire, which November's chilly breath in New 
England makes social and pleasant, they will think of us as enjoy 
ino; milder skies, and dream not of the dire visitation of the ruf- 
fianly horde gathering in our borders, and thirsting for our blood 
The little home circle, now sadly broken in upon by life's changes 
the revered head having passed onward beyond the dark portal 
will think of her who in young girlhood made one of the number 
around the bright hearth-stone, and, having entered upon the 
responsibilities of life's drama, finds her post of duty in this far- 
away land. Thanksgiving will be kept by some families here, and 
the old custom of inviting one's friends to dine will not be forgot- 
ten ; though the " wars and rumors of wars," with the necessary 
preparations in case of an attack, prevent its assuming its usual 
festive character. 

The town has grown much in the few last weeks. The large 
hotel is complete externally, and, with its large, airy-looking win- 
dows opening upon a prospect of indescribable loveliness, its black- 
walnut doors with a mirror-like surface adding beauty, promises 
comfort in the future to the weary traveller. There are other 
buildings, nearly as large, almost complete, while others are 
in process of erection. One has to look all around them to 
avoid running into piles of sand and lime, against the hod-carriers 
and busy workmen. The Missourians have not forsaken us yet, 
or left us to starve, as plenty of their market-wagons are standing 
at every store. The Yankee's money is as good as anybody's 
money ; and too much of it, while the borderers treat us so ill, has 
gone into their hands. It is estimated that over a million dollars 
have been paid them for horses, wagons, provisions, and freights, 
within the last year. 

A friend came in from the border at evening, and brought reli- 
able information of quite a camp at Franklin, four miles from us, 
and people continually on the way. He says there never has been 
before such excitement in the border towns. All kinds of teams 
are pressed into service, and are generally, together with the 



120 KANSAS. 

riders, of most uncouth, nondescript appearance. A box of provis 
ions, some shot-guns, and a jug, usually complete the outfit ; and, 
coming with ox-teams, as quite a nuaiber of them do, there must 
also be embarked for the journey a supply of patience. The pos- 
sibility of a retreat has probably never entered the heads of these 
valiant warriors of the ox-team battalion. 

The following extraordinary document, sent by Secretary Wood- 
son to Gen. Easton, of Leavenworth, has just appeared : 

" (Private.) Dear General : The governor has called out the 
militia, and you will hereby organize your division, and proceed 
forthwith to Lecompton. As the governor has no power, you 
may call out the Platte Rifle Company. They are always ready 
to help us. Whatever you do, do not implicate the governor. 

" Daniel Woodson." 

General Easton was appointed, by the Shawnee Legislature, 
general of the territorial militia. The following, also, was sent 
from Westport : 

** Westport, JVoy. 27. 

" Hon. E. C. McClarem, Jefferson City : Gov. Shannon has 
ordered out the militia against Lawrence. They are now in open 
rebellion against the laws. Jones is in danger." 

Dec. 1st. — Saturday night has come again, bringing the close of 
another week — a week of anxiety to the leaders here, upon whom 
the responsibility of our safety rests. Messengers have been sent 
to the other settlements, at different times, notifying them of the 
threatened attack, with the desire that they hold themselves in 
readiness to come to our aid at a moment's notice. 

Last night, at midnight, a friendly band of armed men came in 
from Ottawa Creek, having heard of the invasion. With flag 
flying, a company of mounted riflemen have come in from Pal- 
myra, also. The Indians, both Shawnees and Delawares, have 
ofi"ered their warriors for our defence. While we would not accept 
aid from the Indians, knowing that it would furnish a pretext to 



WAKARUSA WAR — PREPARATIONS. 121 

the government for their extermination, their friendly feelings will 
go far towards sustaining the courage of any who might falter. 

Several gentlemen from Lawrence have been down to the ene- 
my's camp to-day, as they have, in fact, every previous day. They 
found some of the men in the camp quite communicative. They 
say that " a good many are on the way ; " that they are coming 
" to help the governor." It is estimated that not more than one 
hundred and fifty are now in camp at Franklin, and on the "Waka- 
rusa, two or three miles below. At the former place, to-day, 
about fifty of these barbarians were shooting at a mark. Two 
covered wagons, with flags flying, were standing in the centre of 
the town. Some horses were fastened near. 

As one of these gentlemen from Lawrence went below the Wa- 
karusa, where some half a dozen of humanity's roughest specimens 
guard the ford, on his return, their anxiety was expressed in the 
question, "Have you seen many coming?" At one point he 
overtook a covered wagon, with two men and boxes of provisions 
and ammunition, with an escort of a dozen horsemen. A large 
flag, of singular appearance, waved over the wagon. It was a 
" lone star," of deep crimson, upon a white ground. As one of 
the emblems of their secret oaths, as members of the Blue Lodge, 
it was hailed with loud shouts by those already in camp. 

Business is nearly given up here. Men gather in groups to 
talk of the probabilities of flying rumors. Never were there more 
in circulation. A committee of safety, also the leaders in this 
emergency, have been appointed. They are taking all possible 
steps for the defence, learning as much as they can of the move- 
ments of the enemy. It is rumored, also, that Gov. Shannon has 
telegraphed to President Pierce for the military force at Fort 
Leavenworth. The poor people of the territory would wonder 
what it 's for, were it not explained by the following despatch from 
Missouri : 

"Weston, Mo., JVov. 30. 

" The greatest excitement continues to exist in Kansas. The 

officers have been resisted by the mobocrats, and the interposition 

of the militia has been called for. A secret letter from Secretary 

Woodson to Gen. Eastou has been written, in which the writer 

11 



122 KANSAS. 

requests Glen. Easton to call for the rifle company, at Platte city, 
Mo., so as not to compromise Gov. Shannon. Four hundred men 
from Jackson Co. are now en route for Douglas Co., K. T. St. 
Joseph and Weston are requested to furnish each the same num- 
ber. The people of Kansas are to be subjugated at all hazards." 

Yes ! Kansas is to be subjugated at all hazards ! and at the 
bidding of a governor who has never yet visited the people of the 
territory, but has entered into league and copartnership with the 
people in the border counties of another state, he being their 
" tool," while they find blood and treasure for the accomplishment 
of the designed subjugation. How the memory of such a lofty 
purpose must gladden his days as he treads softly the down-hill 
side of life ! 

2d. — Sunday. Last evening a meeting was held, according to 
previous arrangement, to discuss the merits of the new constitution. 
Judge Smith, Col. Lane, and others, addressed the meeting. Quite 
naturally the times in which we live, and the present circumstances 
surrounding us, occupied quite largely the attention of the meet- 
ing. 

Several utterly false and distorted accounts of the officers in 
and about Lawrence were read from a Leavemuorth Herald 
of the evening before, which so aroused the indignation of 
the meeting that the}^ appointed a committee to collect carefully 
all the fiicts and have them published. The paper which was read 
also contained the information that Shannon had called out Rich- 
ardson, of Mo., general of the militia. Some incendiary appeals 
from that as well as Independence papers were read. 

A gentleman has just remarked that " it is the one act in Shan- 
non's course which is perfectly consistent; a Missouri leader 
should have command of Missouri banditti." 

Dr. Robinson, having been called upon several times to speak, 
also having been called from the hall two or three times, at last 
said, in a plain way, and in brief, that " It was a time, in his opin- 
ion, for acting rather than speaking ; that Shannon had placed 
himself in a bad situation. At his bidding all these Missourians 
had come over to help him enforce the laws ; but when they come 



WAKAKUSA WAR — PREPARATIONS. 123 

to Lawrence they will find that nobody has broken any laws ; for 
the people of Lawrence are a law-abiding people. Their real 
object was to destroy Lawrence ; but it was a question whether 
they would attempt it without some pretext ; and before the Amer- 
ican peopje Shannon would be responsible for their conduct. 
Fearful of some atrocious act upon the part of his drunken rabble, 
he has been compelled to remove the most of them to the camps 
on the Wakarusa. They really were in a predicament. They 
were afraid to attack Lawrence without a pretext, and with reason. 
He had learned, but would not vouch for its truth, that Shannon 
had telegraphed to President Pierce for the troops at the forts. It 
was also reported that Pierce had telegraphed^back again that he 
might have them, and, of course, he would get them. Of course 
he would disarm the people when an invading force of drunken 
Missourians was almost at our doors, and we have no protection 
in the government of the country. (Laughter, and cries of ' Of 
course.') Men of Lawrence, and free-state men, we must have 
courage, but with it we must have prudence ! These men have 
come from Missouri to subjugate the free-state men, to crush the 
free-state movement, — their pretence, that outrages have been 
committed. They are sustained by all the United States author- 
ities here ; and while they do not think it essential that a good 
cause for fighting be given them, the authorities will wait at least 
for a plausible excuse before commencing to shed blood. This 
excuse must not be given them. Each man must be a committee 
of one to guard the reputation as well as lives of the free-state 
men. If the Missourians, partly from fear and partly from want 
of a sufficient pretext, have to go back without striking a blow, it 
will make them a laughing-stock, and redound fearfully agaL'?st 
Shannon. This is the last struggle between freedom and slavery, 
and we must not flatter ourselves that it will be trivial or short. 
The free-state men must stand shoulder to shoulder, v/ith an un 
broken front, and stand or fall together in defence of their liber- 
ties and homes. These may be dark days, but the American peo- 
ple and the world will justify us, and the cause of right will event- 
ually triumph." The enthusiasm with which these remarks were 



124 KANSAS. 

received evinced the deep feeling and determined spirit of the 
meeting. 

A gentleman in from Lecompton, yesterday afternoon, reported 
a most cowardly affair, in which Gen. Clarke was the actor. He 
is the Indian agent, a most infamous man ; so notorious for his 
evil deeds before coming here, that it is said his life would not 
be a moment safe where he previously lived. His infamy renders 
him, however, a better tool for this corrupt administration, and a 
proper ally for the other officials here. He has become alarmed 
for his safety, and a few evenings since sent to some of his pro- 
slavery friends to come to his house to act as guard. They, 
answering his request by their presence, were saluted by being 
fired upon as they reached his house. It happened on this wise. 
His fears were so great, causing him to hear an enemy in every 
footstep, or the rustling of a leaf, that, supposing the knock at 
the door was that of some free-state man, he ran out of the back 
door, around the corner of the house, shot the man who proved to 
be the friend he had sent for, and ran back again. 

E. and I were sitting alone last evening, when loud shouts in 
the distance told of some new arrival. We opened the door, 
and looked out into the darkness. ^Ye could see nothing but the 
friendly lights, in the humble dwellings over the prairie, to the 
eastward, while they burned more brightly yet in the hall, and in 
the hotel, whose upper rooms are used for the committee and 
council rooms. Though a half mile from town, and nearly a 
quarter of a mile from neighbors, and those strangers, while the 
lights show that no one will be " caught napping," even at this 
late hour, we have no fears of danger. We feel sure the shouts 
were not those of invaders, as their yells are most unearthly. 
Again, in the distance, we heard the cheerful sounds go up to 
heaven, and reechoed among the hills. We know, instinctively, 
that it is the spontaneous burst of welcome to some new relief- 
company. 

The guard comes up ere long. They say to our queries of 
"What news?" " The ' Bloomington Boys ' are in." "We've 
had a grand meeting." " We are going to protect ourselves." 
One laughingly says, " Protect ourselves from whom ? " And 



WAKARUSA WAR — PREPARATIONS. 125 

after suggestions from the trio of young men, who have now been 
on guard four nights in this part of the town, making our house 
head-quarters, " that Shannon will not fight ; " that "the Missouri- 
ans will run at the first fire," and that " they, having been taught to 
believe the Yankees are cowards, will find their mistake ; " that they 
are expecting' to get land-warrants to pay them for their trouble in 
coming here, but may get an actual preemption claim six feet by 
two instead ; we are all of our old opinion that there is really 
very little actual danger. They may take the trouble to come 
here, some coming hundreds of miles, with their threats, their 
whiskey and their old shot-guns, — giving them a right to the name 
with which our guard has christened them, " The Shot-gun Bat- 
talion," — they may come with their music, in the shape of an 
old violin, and a rough, fierce-looking biped, to whom soap and a 
razor are unknown, clad in buckskin breeches, and red shirt ; but 
the inspiration of the " Arkansas Traveller," among these half- 
drunken creatures, will never equal the " moral suasion," or the 
wholesome fear of a few Sharpe's rifles. 

Our house was full last night, and of the capacity of our Kan- 
sas homes our eastern friends have no idea. Doctor brought several 
strangers home with him at a very late hour. 

A startling incident occurred last night. One of our picket 
guards was fired upon. Two of the guard were sitting together, 
when a party of Missourians approached and fired six shots at 
them. Our men had strict orders not to fire, unless the emer- 
gency was desperate, and so bore the insult with remarkable pru- 
dence, and obeyed orders. 

Our people are acting strictly upon the defensive, and these 
provocations are continually offered us to provoke a collision. 
They are endeavoring to draw them from the position which 
all the world will justify, that they may have a pretext for the 
destruction of Lawrence, which is really the whole cause of the 
invasion, 

A clergyman was with us last night. He had come in from a 

neighboring settlement, and has been a resident of Missouri 

twenty-seven years. He knows them well therefore ; their cruel 

and desperate characters. With the few who came with him to 

IF 



126 KANSAS. 

Lawrence, he was attending a meeting some miles from home, but 
hearing that Lawrence was in imminent peril, without going to 
his home, or being sure that the word he sent his family would 
reach them, he put spurs to his horse and came to our relief. 

Another clergyman from Vermont, with others, came in to 
breakfast this morning. So the time has come again when men, 
whose vocation it is to preach the word of truth, and to battle 
heroically in fierce struggles with error, have girded on another 
sword than that of the spirit ; and if the victory is to be won by 
sharp fighting, while they " pray and watch " they work, too — the 
working evincing the spirit of the prayer. 

The times seem strange ! Ministers of the gospel of peace buck- 
ling on the armor which is to insure them physical safety ! Two 
thousand years have passed away since the angel-choirs rejoiced 
together, ushering in the glad news of a new gospel, and the tid- 
ings of good-will and peace reverberating over Judea's hills. 
When will men learn the lesson ? With our defence strong and 
secure, made fully known to our foes, there will be no bloodshed. 
So we all feel, and things which seem warlike are in reality peace- 
bearing measures. 

Another event happened last night, which occasioned uneasiness, 
viz., the appearance of McCrea, an escaped prisoner, in our 
midst. His presence, were it known to the enemy, would be a 
new source of difl&culty, and at once cause an outbreak. Few 
of the citizens knew he was here, and he is already on his way to 
a land of safety. 

How the blood boils in our veins, when we think of all the 
indignities imposed upon us by the slave power, by the infamous, 
the execrable corruption of the administration ! No words can 
express the depth of infamy to which it has gone, in endeavoring 
to crush out on this soil, made sacred to freedom by a pledge 
inviolate, free speech, free action and free men. 

McCrea had been for months imprisoned in a close, ill-ventil- 
ated place. A bill was found against him for murder, but a 
change of venue was at last efi'ected. These men, who saw them- 
selves about to be foiled of their prey for which with unabated 
eagerness for six months they had hunted, had made preparations 



WAKARUSA WAR — PREPARATIONS. 127 

to take him from the jail and lynch him; when, foreseeing this, 
McCrea escaped. He came to this place, which has been re- 
garded by all our friends as the Sevastopol of Kansas, expecting 
to find safety and repose. But we can offer none. The same 
power which sought his life so desperately, seeks ours with the 
same malignity. We abide the hour with patience, and feel sure 
that all the tears, the anxieties, the sleepless nights, and weary 
days, of the heart-stricken wife, now left in uncertainty as to 
her husband's fate, are all counted by Him, " who seeth the end 
from the beginning," and that they who have mingled this cup of 
bitterness will find their reward. 

Everything has been so quiet to-day, having no extra com- 
pany, save some gentlemen to tea, that we forget we may be on 
the verge of a civil convulsion; that, ere another Sabbath 
sun arises, we may be homeless, ay, and friendless, if our ene- 
mies perform a tithe of that they threaten. 

A friend has sat here all day, quietly writing for the eastern 
press. He takes great interest in the success of the cause, and 
has several times been in the camp of the enemy, spying out the 
land. He has brouorht back interestino; " notes of travel," and 
passed through some hair-breadth escapes. He has a genial, happy 
nature, peculiar to the Scotch, and, as he tells his adventures with 
a slight brogue, and a quick, rapid utterance, enlivened by his 
sense of the ridiculous, one cannot help feeling that he is sur- 
rounded by Gov. Shannon's half-tipsy military, or hears the 
sounds of music drawn out of a violin by some fierce disciple of 
Paganini, and sees the gaping crowds of men, armed with bowie- 
knives and pistols, nodding their admiration. 

To-day was set for the attack, and the day has passed. The 
weather has become much colder, and I fancy there are some in 
the camps who would be glad if they were home again, by a cheer- 
ful fire. The men in the camps are getting impatient, but slowly 
are they reinforced in small numbers. They come with an ap- 
pearance of reluctance, but the offer of a dollar and a half a day 
and a land warrant is said to be the successful inducement to aid 
in this infamous invasion, and its author no less infamous. 



CHAPTER X. 

WAKAEUSA WAR — INCIDENTS. 

Dec. 3^. — Last evening the governor's proclamation, thougli 
issued on the 29th, was received. It is one mass of falsehoods 
and misstatements, and an incendiary appeal to the bad passions 
of the border men to come in to assist him in our destruction. 
Jones goes to him with most malignant untruths of a rescue from 
his hands of the prisoner, by a band of forty men, etc. (It is 
now stated that Coleman was with the posse, and armed himself 
at Franklin with pistols and bowie-knives to act with Jones' 
posse.) The rescue was ten miles from Lawrence. Two men in the 
rescue are all who have ever been citizens of Lawrence. Gov. 
Shannon, without the discretion which a man possessing even a 
common share of sense would show, issued his bloody proclama- 
tion, which deserves no place in the archives of history, against 
the citizens of Lawrence. 

AVhile no effort has been made to make a single arrest, he says 
they are in a state of rebellion against the laws, and utters fierce 
cries of "revolution," and "civil war." We would that we had 
a governor less imbecile and senseless. 

On Saturday the immortal Jones came into town. While he sat 
upon his horse, bolt upright, looking defiant, his eyes wandered 
restlessly here and there, as if expecting some unseen enemy, and 
his hands trembled. Some boys, whose fun was brimming over, 
asked him if he was cold. 

His thin lips parted, and an abrupt "No" was uttered. 
. " Then have you the chills?" asked they in a sympathetic tone. 

The same sound, and the same monosyllable, only a little more 
abrupt and stern, was issued. 



WAKARUSA WAR — INCIDENTS. 129 

He evidently did not like the Yankee sympathy when such 
weighty matters were resting on his shoulders. But, being asked 
what he wanted in Lawrence, he replied, " I will let you know 
when I get ready." Then, putting spurs to his horse, he wheeled 
around, amid the laugh of the three or four frolicksome youths, 
and the blue coat of the Missourian was last seen going over the 
hill on the wcv to Lecompton. He had made, in his estimation, 
no doubt, a fearful escape from the stronghold of the rebels. 

Yesterday, the rumors of war being still rife, and so many 
citizens of the near settlements having come in, arrangements were 
made for the companies to go into barracks. The large dining- 
hall of the new hotel being fitted up with stoves, several of the 
companies will occupy it, while others have a " soldier's home " in 
the hall which has been used for school-room, church, etc. The 
quartermaster and commissary-general have been appointed. Beef 
and corn are brought in in large quantities, and preparations are 
being made for a siege. 

The soldiers are drilling out on the prairie, and under the com- 
mand of Col. Lane, who has seen actual service and hard fighting 
in Mexico. Their evolutions are well performed. As we look 
upon them, going through the drill soberly, without noise, and no 
rabble of boys following, we feel that, before yielding to the 
unjust exactions of a partisan government, they would meet 
death. 

There is young manhood in the ranks, and some who have not 
yet counted their score of years; but the mantle of discretion 
and prudence has fallen upon them. The blood of '76 runs in 
their veins, and the fires of its unquenched love of liberty 
sparkle in their eyes. 

We are yet in the hollow of His hand who " hates the op- 
pressor," and " the crooked ways before us He will make straight." 

A Mr. N., of Vermont, is just in. He called to see doctor 
a few moments since, and has now returned with him from the 
council-room, and will make our house his home. He brings news 
of our pleasant Scotch' friend, who left us this moining on another 
tour of observation, in the enemy's camp. He met him at 
" Fish's," some two miles below the ford, on the Wakarusa, of 



130 KANSAS. 

wliicli the enemy have taken possession, having escaped from theii 
hands. They recognized him as some one from Lawrence, he 
having been so frequently in their camp. They disarmed him at 
first ; but, on his threatening them with proceedings, they returned 
the pistol, and he is now on his way to report to Gov. Shannon the 
conduct of his militia. As they kept him a good while in camp, 
he learned much of their method of proceeding. Sentries are 
posted at all the fords on the Wakarusa, with strict orders to 
search and disarm every one attempting to pass. An old gentle- 
man from Lawrence is a prisoner in their camp. They keep him 
bound. 

Mr. P. attempted to persuade Mr. ISi . to go further up the 
river before attempting to cross, it being utter folly to try to get 
past them at that point ; but, by a most skilful manoeuvre, he 
blinded the enemy in gallant style, and came through bearing 
important despatches. 

He has a very military air about him, and, as he reined in his 
horse a moment, then dashing in among the rough outposts at the 
crossing, and, in a stern voice, said, " Why don't you demand the 
countersign ? " they looked astonished, and he passed through. 
They evidently supposed him to be one of their officers. Coming, 
as they have, from several different counties, the majority of the 
men and officers are strangers to each other. 

In the camp Mr. N. gave the military salute, and commenced 
an easy off-hand talk with the men. One of the unshaven apolo- 
gies for manhood asked, " Did you see many of our boys coming?" 

Mr. N. replied, " No, I saw more returning ; " as he in fact 
met fifty, whose faces were set homewards, their patience being 
wearied out with waiting for the gathering together of their 
sheriff's posse. 

The questioner, with downcast look, then said, "Then v/e 
may as well give it up ; for the Lawrence boys will take us 
like mice." 

When some of the men very blandly asked if they should take 
care of his horse, his reply, that " he thought he would look around 
a little first," satisfied them, and he pursued his journey. 

He soon reached the village of Franklin, where fifty or more of 



WAKARUSA WAR — INCIDENTS. 131 

these men were loitering, and attending most assiduously upon 
some half a dozen groceries. It seemed at first a matter of some 
doubt whether he could pass them ; but, with the military salute, 
and gracefully bowing, he went on unmolested, and reached us in 
safety. 

Another fact of some moment, learned to-day, is that as the 
invaders pass the Shawnee Mission, they are all enrolled by the 
governor. 

One's indignation would exceed every other feeling were it not 
for -the wonder that any man can be guilty of such consummate 
folly! 

Spies from the enemy's camp are in Lawrence every day. They 
gain all the information they can, which, I judge from the mer- 
riment of the guard, in talking over the visit of a spy, is not always 
so reliable as it might be. 

Dr. Wood has moved his family out of town. So, also, have 
other pro-slavery men. Dr. Wood is in the camp of the enemy. 
A young man, who claims to be free-state, has repeatedly warned 
a lady of his acquaintance — a widow with small children — of 
the approaching onset, and that no one in the town will be safe 
from indiscriminate slaughter. He begs of her to remove to a 
pro-slavery residence, a mile out, and there he will insure her 
safety. 

She sends her children to the proposed place of security to 
sleep ; but, like a true woman, remains at home, to perform those 
duties which the hour renders imperative. 

This youth, who, notwithstanding his protestations of being a 
free-state man, has had a wondrous fellow-feeling for the pro- 
slavery part}^, — opening his house for their storage of provisions at 
the time of the first invasion, — now complains of illness, and 
neither comes into town, nor goes down to the enemy's camp. 
Another man, a Mr. Cox, who has been strong in his expressions 
of sympathy with the free-state cause, is now a spy among us. 
He has hoisted upon his store a sign telling who he is, and asking 
that his property may not be destroyed. 

Our fair-weather friends are now obliged to show their true 
colors, and the certain knowledge of their treachery is worth much 



132 KANSAS. 

to a community situated as we are. Eighty men from Topeka have 
arrived. 

4?/^. — Early morning calls are all I see of the doctor now, as 
there is continually something in the council-room to demand 
attention, and last night they held a council of war to decide upon 
what further measures shall be taken for our defence. 

Forts and entrenchments are to be thrown up, under the direc- 
tion of Col. Lane. Reports have come in of three hundred men 
between here and Westport, three hundred at the Wakarusa, some 
two hundred now crossing the Delaware Reserve towards Law- 
rence, — the Platte County Rifles being of the number, — making 
in all a force eight hundred strong for the destruction, the annihi- 
lation of Lawrence. 

Our guard are now fired upon nightly. Last night a bullet 
passed through the hat of one of the guard, instead of his head, 
for which it was doubtless intended. 

The chilly breath of the last few days has given place to the 
warm, balmy airs of September. I watch the guard upon the 
hills, and stationed at different points in the prairies — foot guard 
as well as mounted. Some are standing quietly, while the two 
hours of some others have expired, and they are going through a 
rapid change of position. There are horsemen, also wagons, pass- 
ing up over the Lecompton road, to reinforce the company at 
Lecompton, and swift riders are going in and out of town, while 
the flag — the sign of invasion — floats over our house. This 
flag was run up days ago, and can be seen at a great distance. 

In the midst of my reveries arising from all this strange scene, 
the uncouth face of a Missourian presented itself close by me, 
only the window between. That we looked at each other, I am 
sure, and from the looks of his physiognomy, and from a certainty 
as to the nature of my own feelings, I am equally sure neither of 
us were pleased. He, however, seemed strongly attracted towards 
the house, was only content after taking a general survey of 
three sides of it, and came a little nearer than any rules of pro- 
priety would allow. He passed on, at length, and seated himself 
in the tall grass on the top of the hill for half an hour. He was 
evidently a spy, not upon us only, but the whole town. 



WAKARUSA WAR — INCIDENTS. 133 

While we were at dinner, two other men, evidently in authority, 
rode out on the point of the hill, to take a survey of the town. 
They rode very slowly past the house, examining the whole prem- 
ises, and looking backwards, until they reached the summit of the 
hill beyond. It looked like a silent threat, coming at the hour, 
too, when they supposed we would have company to dine, and the 
leaders of the defence. 

Just before noon one of the " staff" (just appointed) came up, 
and, upou my opening the door, he said, " Good-morning, Mrs. R. ; 
the doctor sent me after his horse ; " and, as he vaulted into his sad- 
dle, with a ringing laugh he said, " Excuse me, Mrs. R., I meant 
the general." 

So I suppose that the quiet doctor, who has always been re- 
marked for the meekness of his bearing, is metamorphosed into a 
general. He was appointed last evening. To the never-failing 
question, " Is there anything new ? " he tells me, " The men are 
anxious to form companies of riflemen, and go down to Franklin;" 
that " with one round the Missourians would fly like frightened 
hares." " The people are getting impatient, and nothing but giv- 
ing up their position, of acting strictly upon the defensive, keeps 
them from driving them out of the borders." 

Soldiers are on drill all the afternoon. A cavalry company is 
also formed. There are about four hundred armed men in Law- 
rence now, and if there is a fight there will be terrible slaughter 
among the Missourians. This they know, and they are still waiting 
for reinforcements. What an unheard of sheriff's posse this will 
be ! The companies have been firing at a mark set on the hill 
near us, and the rifle-balls went far beyond. 

bth. — More than a week has passed since an attack was threat- 
ened, and not one blow has been struck yet. I was awakened 
early this morning — about four o'clock — by a loud knocking at 
the door. It was quickly opened. Mr. P. and our Scotch friend — 
whose name has also the same initial letter — have had narrow es- 
capes from the enemy, and an escape less fearful from a grave in 
the Kansas. They were dripping wet, and so chilled with the water 
and the keen air, that the stove heat did little good, and they 
12 



134 KANSAS. 

soon tried a warm bed, leaving me to dry their clothes, papers, ana 
money, which were all thoroughly soaked. 

After Mr. N., who arrived here on Monday, left " Fish's," the 
brave Scotchman started for the mission, to bring his grievances 
before the governor. He was not at the mission, and, hearing he 
was at Westport, he follov/ed on, went to the hotels, but could find 
him nowhere. He learned there, however, that Gov. Shannon had^ 
received instructions from Washington, authorizing his proceed- 
ings, and that many more are going to his aid from Westport ; 
large numbers having already congregated there from the border 
towns. He heard many of their plans thoroughly discussed, as he 
sat by, the substance of which seems to be that there shall be a 
war, that the rescuers shall be delivered up, that all arms shall be 
given up, the leaders lynched, and the others driven from the coun- 
try. He heard men high in authority say, that " now was the 
time ; the river was just about to close ; no reinforcements could 
arrive for the free-state men ; there were only some thirty-five hun- 
dred of them in the territory, and if they were not cut off now, 
they never could be ; that slavery must and should go into Kan- 
sas ; that they would have Kansas, though they have to wade to 
their knees in blood to get it ; that they should fight, and let the 
Union go to the d — 1 ! " Judge Johnson, and a young man who 
recently came with him, had been arrested, and the threats were 
not few that they would be lynched in a few days. 

Learning that the governor had left Westport, our friend pur- 
sued his journey towards Kansas city; and,,, when about halfway 
there, was again arrested by a band of armed men. They said, to 
his query, " By what authority am I a prisoner ? " " By Gov. 
Shannon's orders." They seemed a little puzzled at his pertinent 
remark upon this information, " You forget, gentlemen, that we 
are in Missouri ; " and, in the moment of wavering which followed, 
our friend hoped that the scales would turn in his favor, and he 
be allowed to go quietly on his way. But the fiat had gone forth. 
No one but a known pro-slavery man, or the territorial authori- 
ties, who are given over, with all their interests, to the furthering 
of the nefarious schemes of Atchison and Stringfellow, can travel 
safely in the territory, or in Missouri. Our friend was conducted 



WAKARUSA WAR — INCIDENTS. 135 

to a house a little way from the road, and, as he stood before the 
fire, hearing their expressions of glee at the capture of some prom- 
inent free-state men, and their threats of soon lynching them, also 
ruminating upon his own chances of escape, he espied upon one of 
them a sign of membership of an odd-fellow's lodge. He made 
to him the sign of distress, and, by the rules of the order, he was 
bound to protect him. This man at once interested himself. He 
said to the others, the examination of the prisoner must be pri- 
vate, and he must make it. The rest of the ruffians agreed to it, 
and, in a room by themselves, he took the papers in his hand, 
which the prisoner gave him, then returned them, and said, " His 
life has been saved at his own peril." 

This examination was made somewhat superficially, and with 
apologies. The next morning, through the interposition of this 
brother odd-fellow, the prisoner was released, the odd-fellow tak- 
ing his hand at parting, and asking his pardon. He said, also, 
" Don't think hard of mo, brother. I have done all I could. You 
were in danger, and I had two duties to perform. I am a member 
of another order, and am bound to act, and dare not refuse. Nor 
do I want to. I am a border ruffian, nor am I ashamed of it. We 
shall have Kansas — we won't be cheated out of it. When they 
passed the Kansas bill, the pledge to us was that the South should 
have Kansas, and the North Nebraska ; but the d — d emigrant 
aid societies, and other abolitionists, expect to cheat us out of it. 
But they can't. We are going to have Kansas, if we wade to the 
knees in blood to get it." 

After reaching Kansas city, our friend, in company with Mr. 
P., left for Lawrence. As it was impossible to go by Westport, 
they crossed the river about a mile from Kansas city, and came 
up the north side, thus being obliged to cross again at Lawrence. 
As they went into the ferry-boat, two men, w^hom they had seen 
hanging about the hotel at Kansas, were sitting on the bank. On 
seeing them, they arose and hastily took the direction towards 
Kansas city. The evident plan was to go back to Westport, and 
there get a crowd to intercept them as they should pass through 
the Delaware Keserve. By taking the Indian trails, now one, and 
then another, they reached a friendly mission-house, where an 



136 KANSAS. 

Indian guide was furnished them. At about ten o'clock they left 
there for Lawrence, twenty-six miles lying between them and the 
end of their route. As noiselessly as possible they pursued their 
way through the woods and darkness. They moved on stealthily 
as men would whose lives were in hourly peril from the enemy 
seen and unseen. Our young friend, having already been twice in 
their hands, could have little to hope for on a third arrest. When 
within three miles of Lawi'ence, they came upon a camp-fire which 
had been recently left, but saw no one. The Indian overheard 
them talking of forcing their way through the guard, should they 
come upon one, in preference to being taken into their camp, and 
refused to go further. Every inducement offered was unavailing. 
So, without a guide, chilled with the keen night air, weary with the 
excitement and want of rest, they pressed on. 

Before this, however, the question of the ford at Lawrence had 
been discussed. Mr. P. had " never been over, but he thought he 
knew where it was." The young traveller " had seen people cross, 
and perhaps he could find it." And now the ford was reached. 
The ferryman lived in Lawrence, the other side of the river. 
The enemy might be lurking behind any of these trees. It would 
not do to halloo for the boat, and the ford must be attempted on 
horseback. 

Mr. P. said to the very slenderly-built young man, who was 
mounted on a little Indian pony, "You go in first." He replied 
to the other, who rode a strong horse, and is himself of aldermanic 
proportions, " I do not know the ford. I have only seen people 
cross." 

But delays were dangerous, and the young man thought " it 
would not be right to urge such an old man to encounter the dan- 
gers first," and gently urged his little pony in. The channel was 
very deep, and the waters swift. He was carried into the current, 
and was being borne rapidly down. He was swept out of the sad- 
dle, and held on by the pommel. He struggled long in the water, 
and for a few moments he thought "the Tribune would require 
another Kansas correspondent." At last, by extraordinary effort, 
he was again on terra firma, having for several moments only been 
able to keep his head above water. 



WAKARUSA WAR — INCIDENTS. 137 

Mr. P., in the mean time, went in a little way, but, seeing the 
desperate condition of his friend, returned to the shore. The 
young Scotchman said, in his fiicetious way, " I was so thoroughly 
chilled and exhausted then, I had as lieve fall into the enemy's 
hands as die so, and we hallooed for the boat for half an 
hour." 

Word came this morning from Franklin that teams, loaded 
with freight for our merchants here, had been overhauled at the 
camp on the Wakarusa. All powder and ammunition were taken 
from them, while the wagons, loaded wholly with apples, potatoes 
and flour, were stopped entirely, and not allowed to proceed. So 
they intend to starve us out, or make us surrender. 

The hot blood of some of our men chafes at these indignities, 
and they can hardly be restrained from an attack upon the camp, 
leaving not one to tell the tale of the infamous invasion. 

A despatch must be sent to Washington, and Mr. P. accepts 
the mission. He is to go through Iowa, and will leave this after- 
noon, but thinks he must go to Kansas city first. We attempt to 
dissuade him, knowing the dangers of the route, which thicken 
every hour. 

Early in the afternoon he left for Kansas city, going through 
the Reserve, to go thence to Iowa. 

Soon after he went, I called upon some new neighbors in the 
valley west of us. They are western people, and the lady espe- 
cially has the western peculiarities of speech. 

She was sweeping the door-way as I approached the little log 
cabin ; and, never having seen her, I said, " Good-afternoon. Is 
it Mrs. ?" 

" Yes ; come in," was the hearty reply. 

There was wealth of good-nature and a whole-souled welcome 
in the very manner of the greeting. As I stepped in, I told her 
who I was ; but, rather in doubt as to who I might be, she said, 
" Mrs. or Miss ? " 

Although I replied Mrs., she looked still doubtful, and said, " Do 
you live in the house on the hill ? " 

My reply being in the affirmative, and my identity being dis- 
tinctly understood, we sat down and talked of the war. In the 
12* 



138 KANSAS. 

mean time I noticed with how little room one can make comfort and 
draw enjoyment. There were two beds, one double and the other 
single, looking so nicely with their white spreads and clean linen 
There were table, stove and book-case, all in the same small room. 
There were white curtains at the one little window ; and the roon. 
was really so small, that at meals they were obliged to sit down 
around the table before the leaves were spread, having everything 
placed on the middle of it. 

They say they would rather live in Iowa, where they came 
from. They do not like to live where there is so much disturb- 
ance, and, when the husband and father is from home, they are 
continually fearful lest some evil has befallen him. 

He soon came in. He is a tall, blue-eyed man, of most pre- 
possessing appearance, a native of Georgia, and has come to add 
his influence in the early settlement of his country, hoping to 
plant all the institutions of freedom. He said " he had looked 
with indescribable interest upon all the means taken for our 
defence, and though as a minister he could not bear arms, he still 
has faith in Cromwell's motto, 'Trust in God, and keep your 
powder dry.' " 

As we were talking of the war, Mrs. said, with her clear, 

ringing voice, " What does your old man think of it ? " 

I answered as well as I could, and am amused at this appella- 
tion, purely western, she has given my husband. 

The Missourians threaten to kill all our men, and save the 
women for a more bitter fate ; and the black flag, now waving 
over their camp, is eminently suggestive of their piratical designs, 
— plunder, blood and rapine. 

The evening was cold and dark, and chilly gusts of wind swept 
around the house, flapping the flag wildly, while the stafi" strikes 
against the roof. The wind creeps in too through the half-inch 
siding, and the stove continually cries "more wood." 

All this reminds us of chilly days coming, and of the cold 
winds, and snows, against which the unplastered houses are a 
poor defence ; and we realize that this invasion, let it end as it 
may, is not only a source of suff'ering in the present, but in the 
future will be the occasion of distress, to this persecuted people. 



WAKARUSA WAR — INCIDENTS. 139 

Now is the time when they ought, and would be, prepaiing for 
winter. 

As we looked out into the chilly night, we saw the great fires 
blazing around the forts, and the men busily plying their shovels. 
Night and day, taking turns by fifties, with unabated ardor, the 
work goes on. There will be five strong forts commanding the 
river and all the entrances to the town. 

The men, as they work the hard-frozen earth, think of home, 
wife and little ones. Some are here, but some are far away, not 
dreaming of the dire evils which threaten the loved one. They 
think of their country and their God, and courage and the con- 
sciousness of doing well fill the heart, and strength nerves the 
arm. A tyranny less outrageous than this was overthrown by 
their fathers, and shall they falter when more precions rights are 
in peril ? 

As the faithful time-piece says the night is fast waning towards 
its mid hour, there is a welcome knock at the door, and, opening 
it, I find our Scotch friend is standing close to the door, with a long 
rifle by his side. I had tried to persuade him not to go down 
town after so much excitement and weariness of the last two days 
and nights ; but his enthusiasm in the cause will not let him rest, 
— besides, he is one of the general's aids, and has been attending 
the council of war held this evening. He says, " It is decided to 
send a messenger to Gov. Shannon, to ask him what is the mean- 
ing of this armed body of men quartered near our town ; why 
he allows them to commit robberies upon our people and harass 
travellers, disarming them and taking them prisoners ; requesting 
him also to order their removal." To my inquiries, Mr. P said, 
" There is danger in the undertaking, but L. and B. are going. 
They are acquainted with the governor, and they know the pass- 
word." We hope they may get through without detention. 

After making beds upon the floor, and putting extra blankets 
on the lounge for any who may drop in for a nap before morning, 
replenishing the fire, I leave for my own room. And before sleep- 
ing, I wonder if we do indeed live in America, — the so-much- 
boasted land, — or whether, in her prosperity, her love of power 
and aggrandizement has proved the grave of all honor, patriotism 



140 KANSAS. 

and love of freedom. The question will arise, also, whether Gov. 
Shannon's heart has become a stony heart, thus to bring a force 
against his own people. This has puzzled wiser brains than mine, 
and so I sleep, restlessly. I dream of a royal palace where there 
are men sitting. They are steeped in wine. There is revelry and 
confusion. They talk boldly of the evil deeds with which their 
lives are filled, and they swear they will fill up the measure of 
their wickedness. They ask aid of one who seems to be in author- 
ity ; and with the brimming beaker he pledges them he will go 
with them heart and soul in their deeds of blood. What to him 
is his plighted honor to a great people, or what murdered inno* 
eence and the cries of heart-stricken widows and orphans, whose 
homes are made desolate by the strong arm of the oppressor ? 
Naught to him are these ; so he retains the seat in the royal 
palace which he has disgraced, and is the representative of the 
law he has rendered a sad mockery. But the wine-cup falls, his 
knees knock together, his glaring eyes are fixed, and on the wall 
are characters written in living colors, unseen by all save him ; 
but the bony, bloodless hand — death's hand — writes, and the 
words burn his soul, " Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin." 

The dream is over, and with the waking comes a realization 
that the days of the tyrant will end, as surely as revolution is 
born of oppression ; peace and quiet springing from the broken 
system of tyranny, as surely as morning cometh from the night 
and strength is born of sorrow. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE DEATH OF BARBER — THE TREATY. 

Bee. Gtk. — Thursday. We were awakened again, long before 
daylight. Some friends have had a long journey from the country 
above. They were not considered safe here, and had gone far 
away, but they heard that Lawrence had been attacked, doctor 
and fifteen others killed ; and thinking that the war had fairly 
opened, they had walked thirty miles in the last few hours, that 
they might with their friends strike and die for liberty. 

The guard are again fired upon, and more of our messengers to 
different parts of the territory and to the states taken prisoners. 
Horsemen, in companies of four and six, are continually riding over 
the hills. They are the leading men in the ranks of the enemy ; 
and we hear their design is to plant their artillery on Mt. Oread, 
and take this house for barracks. They seem to be looking around 
with the intention of concluding their plans. We feel perfectly 
safe so far as the planting of their artillery is concerned. Not 
one man could stand before the deadly fire of the Sharpe's rifles, 
from the town or ravine. The Missourians are still slowly gather- 
ing in at Lecompton, and the camp near Franklin, and the new 
one on the Wakarusa, south of us, and only about four miles 
from town. Our supplies are cut off. People are turned from 
their homes at midnight, and their corn-cribs and hay-stacks 
burned. 

Some other gentlemen also dined with us. They were unex- 
pected guests, nevertheless welcome. Just before dinner, we saw 
a large mounted party of the enemy's force going over the hill 
beyond us. We also saw two men on the west side of the hill, com- 
ing cautiously towards the house. It looked to us as though it were 



142 KANSAS. 

impossible for them to escape the observation of the enemy, and 
we watched them anxiously, almost breathlessly, as they slowly were 
nearing us. The horsemen, fortunately, instead of going on to the 
summit, kept a little under the eastern slope, and, thank God ! our 
friends were safe. The reason of their coming over was a simple 
one. They had been guilty of aiding in the rescue of an innocent 
man from a gang of desperadoes. A gang of men had been 
prowling about their house all the morning ; not all in one bt)dy, 
but at different points, and in such a manner as to excite suspi- 
cions of evil intended against them. Finally, this scouting band 
of the governor's militia all at once started in the direction of 
their head-quarters, and our friends immediately came over the 
hills, seeking a safer place. Our messengers fly back and forth to 
town, and one of them concludes to go to his home in the states, 
for a little time. We send to his wife to come and see him, and 
for the first time I begin to feel that the horrors of war are open- 
ing upon us. Men, for doing an act of kindness, are hunted for 
their lives, and daily and nightly watching alone saves them from 
falling into the hands of the enemy. I go continually from one 
part of the house to the other, to see if any spies are about, and 
once fell into a laughable mistake. Having gone up stairs to have 
a long look out over hill and prairie, I saw a woman upon the west 
side of the hill. I ran down and said to the gentlemen, " There 
is a woman coming to the house. Will you step in the dining-room 
and see if it is any one you would like to see ; if not, you can go 
up stairs." They looked out, and one of them said, " Why, that's 
my wife." 

I laughed as heartily as they, but did not diminish my watch- 
fulness, because once I was " more scared than hurt." 

The men were at work on a part of the forts, while some were 
complete ; entrenchments were being thrown up on each side of 
Massachusetts-street ; the soldiers were drilling through the centre 
of the broad street ; ladies were standing in the doorways look- 
ing on ; while little boys, having caught the general spirit of a 
resort to arms, were marching about in martial array, with feath- 
ers in their paper cocked-hats and imitation guns. 

D. E,. Atchison, with twenty-five men, was said to be crossing 



THE DEATH OF BARBEE — THE TREATY. 143 

the reserve, towards the camp on the Wakarusa. The men were 
anxious to go out, and bring him in a prisoner, but the general 
was firm. We are acting only on the defensive. 

The howitzer has just arrived, and several men are guarding it 
in one of the lower rooms. Some ladies go in to look at the grape 
and bomb-shells. 

It was rumored that Mr. P. has been taken prisoner by the 
Missourians, and taken into their camp, on the Wakarusa. The 
indignation of the people is increasing in intensity, and their for- 
bearance growing less. The twelve-pound brass howitzer was 
brought in by a manoeuvre evincing tact and skill, as well as 
bravery. The council, having heard of its arrival at Kansas city, 
decided if possible it must be brought up, and three or four of our 
citizens, willing to encounter the danger, offered their services for 
the undertaking. They found the boxes in which it was packed, 
at the warehouse, consigned to one of our merchants. The j)ropri- 
etor of the warehouse suggested there might be rifles in them, 
and, to quiet all suspicion, Mr. B., with an axe, raised a board from 
the largest box, saying, " Let's see what there is." 

As they looked in, and saw only wheels, he said, " It 's only 
another of H.'s carriages." 

Everything was satisfactory. The board was renailed. The 
boxes were loaded in the wagons, with mattresses and other fur- 
niture on the top, and they left Kansas city, by the ferry route. 
The wagons getting set as they went up the steep bank on the oppo- 
site side of the river, Mr. B. called upon a band of Missourians, 
standing by, " to give them a lift at the wheels," which they did, 
and without difficulty they reached Lawrence, where they were 
received with loud acclamations by the citizens. The little besieged 
town received with it good cheer, hope and courage. 

A lady from Ohio, whose husband has ever been most active in 
the free-state cause, and for whom the enemy feel no little bitter- 
ness, has offered her little " shake " cabin, next the hotel, for the 
general use. Daily and nightly the ladies meet there, in the one 
room, with its loose, open floor, through which the wind creeps, to 
make cartridges ; their nimble fingers keeping time with each heart- 
beat for freedom, so enthusiastic are they in aiding the defence. 



144 KANSAS. 

At evening, the young Scotchman with his constant companion, 
the long rifle, came in. He looked sedate, as, seating himself on 
the lounge, he said, " The war has commenced. They have shot 
a man, about five miles from here." 

" Who ? " and " Is he dead ? " were the questions which followed 
in quick succession. 

" A Mr. Barber, one of the men who came in to our assistance 
from Bloomington. He died almost instantly. It is said that 
Dr. AVood was in the crowd that shot him." 

He said besides, " It is almost impossible to restrain the men 
to-night. Their imprecations of vengeance are loud and deep, and 
the general has something to do to restrain his own feelings. A 
guard have gone out to bring in the body." 

The plot thickens. Our men are shot down in the broad sun- 
light by this ruffianly horde. Can the governor say, " My soul is 
clear of my brother's blood ? " The messengers sent to him have 
returned, and they come with the promise from him that he will be 
here to-morrow. The governor sent a long letter to General R., 
and others in command. It was very indefinite, and non-committal, 
and evinced some tact in the author, to write so much, and yet say 
so little to any purpose. Upon one point alone was it clear ; that 
is, the enforcement of the laws. In his conversation he was a 
little more definite. He said he was unable to restrain the men, 
his militia, though he had repeatedly commanded them to preserve 
order. He was endeavoring also to shake ofi" the responsibility of 
this Missouri mob, but the following pass, given to a gentleman who 
dined with us to-day, will show he has some connection with it : 

"Mr. Jones, Sherifi", or any other i?! cojnmand. Mr. Winchell 
is going, on business of his own, to Lawrence ; please pass him 
without detention or molestation. Wilson Shannon." 

Col. Lane has received a small limb of a tree, with a bullet in 
it, and hemp bound round it, from the enemy's camp, with the 
compliments of Col. Burns, of Missouri. Dr. Wood was in com- 
pany with Burns at the time it was sent. 

1th. — The murdered man was brought into town last night, and 



. THE DEATH OF BARBER — THE TREATY. 145 

in his usual dress, laid upon a table in the hotel. His look was 
one of perfect repose, with the pallor of the death sleep. The 
circumstances of his death show more clearly than anything which 
has previously transpired, the malignity, the utter heartlessness of 
the foe with whom we have to deal. This certainly convinces us 
that no mercy will be shown any who fall into their hands. 

Mr. Barber, hearing that the lives of the people of Lawrence 
were in peril, had come, with others in his neighborhood, to lend 
his aid in making good our defence. Yesterday he mounted his 
horse, and, bidding his comrades " Good-by," sajdng that he " would 
be back in the morning," wholly unarmed, started for his home. 
Doubtless, as he sped over the prairies on his way, he thought of 
the glad surprise his coming would give his wife after this few 
days' absence, and with whom, on leaving for Lawrence, the bit- 
terness of the parting, her unwillingness for him to go, seemed 
but a foreshadowing of his sad fate. A little after he had left 
the main road, with his two friends who accompanied him, two 
horsemen rode out from a company of twelve on the California 
road, Dr. Wood being one of them. They told him to go with 
them. In reply to their several questions he said, he " had been 
to Lawrence, was unarmed, was going to his home ; " and, putting 
spurs to his horse, rode on ; but the deadly bullet of the foul crea- 
ture, the tool of the administration, entered his back, and, saying 
" God ! I am a murdered man ! " he never spoke again. 

The home to which he hasted he never reached, but his spirit 
is an avenging witness before the Higher Court, where all these 
deeds of blood are held in remembrance. 

General George W. Clarke, the Indian Agent, went on his way 
to meet Governor Shannon at the Wakarusa head-quarters, and 
there declared with horrid oaths, " I have sent another of these 
d — d abolitionists to his winter-quarters." 

The feeling that her husband would be murdered had haunted 
the timid wife, but friends kept this dread knowledge from her 
until this morning. 

Words can never convey the mingling emotions which moved 
the crowd, or the heart-crushing agony of the young wife. There 
were no children in the household, and all the affections had 
13 



146 KANSAS. 

twined around this one idol. All of life, all of happiness, were 
centred in him ; and to be bereaved thus, was adding bitterness 
to the agony. It seemed as though her heart must break, and, in 
her distress and shrieks, the brave, strong-hearted men mingled 
tears and muttered imprecations of vengeance upon the murderers, 
and upon him who had brought these murderers into our midst. 

The hour approached for the arrival of the governor, who is 
coming to treat of peace. Already he was coming over the 
prairie with his suite. The carriage was a covered double-seated 
one, in which he occupies the back seat. With horsemen riding 
front and in the rear, the cavalcade moved on. In front of the 
hotel, lines of citizen soldiery were drawn out, and they knew 
there was a prospect of a settlement of these difficulties without 
further bloodshed. Can these men, whose murdered comrade now 
lies within these walls, make peace and he be unavenged ? Their 
feelings revolt at such a proposal ; but the magnanimity of their 
leaders, who propose pacification, calms the troubled waters, and 
they realize that peace is better than war, though the hot blood, 
crying revenge, still chafes. The carriage passed in through the 
soldiery to the door, and Gen. Robinson and the governor went 
through the halls, and up the unfinished stairways to the council- 
chamber. 

As the eyes of the governor fell upon the rigid limbs, and the 
death-pallor of the young man, who yesterday was so full of life, 
hope, and strength, he gave a perceptible shrug of his shoulders. 
The governor's suite also entered, and as they passed the silent 
dead. Col. Boone, of Westport, said, " I did not expect such a 
thing as this." What else could they expect from the barbarous 
men gathered here by their murderous appeals ? 

They were introduced to the Committee of Safety in the large 
reception-room. Then the governor and Col. Boone, on the part 
of the invaders, and Gen. Bobinson and Col. Lane, on the part 
of the citizens, held a private session in the council-chamber. 
They talked over the whole matter. The governor asked that 
the arms be delivered up. He was soon satisfied, however, that 
such conditions of peace would never be complied with, and said at 
last that such a demand was unreasonable. The papers which 



THE DEATH OF BARBER — THE TREATY. 147 

are to be signed will be made out to-night, and signed by both 
parties on the morrow. 

The governor sent for troops from the fort this morning at three 
o'clock. He wants to gain time, and delay signing the papers, as 
he said that "he could not control the force he has brought 
against us." " If they knew a treaty had been made, they would 
at once raise the black flag, and march against the town." So, as 
he is hoping Col. Sumner will send his troops for the defence of 
Lawrence, this delay is made. When our citizens sent to him 
days ago for aid, he refused, because he had no orders from the 
President ; and the question is, will he come now ? 

About three o'clock the governor and suite, consisting of Col. 
Boone, of Westport, Col. Kearney, of Independence, and Col. 
Strickland, also of Missouri, with Col. Lane, dined with us. 

The governor is a gray-haired man, tall and well-proportioned. 
He has coarse features and a hard-looking face, generally. Nature 
must bear a part of the blame, but the weather and bad whiskey, 
doubtless, come in for a share. However, mild eyes, and a good 
height of forehead, show that naturally he is not a cruel man ; but 
his head lacks firmness, as we speak phrenologically, and his 
course here, as well as elsewhere, is evidence that he is vacillat- 
ing, weak, ill-suited to be the leader of other men; that he is 
credulous, and easily made a tool in the hands of base men ; that, 
in brief, he is the exponent of the purposes and actions of the 
men, or party, with whom he is most thrown in contact. 

Crowds of horsemen were passing over and down the hill. 
Some of them were our mounted guard — others were from the 
camps of the invaders. The enemy have now nearly surrounded 
us. The camp on the Wakarusa, just south of Lawrence, cuts off 
connection with the southern settlements. There are strolling 
bands of men all through the Delaware Eeserve, while quite a 
body of them are camped in the woods just opposite the town, 
preventing people passing to and from Leavenworth, and other 
colonies north. They still have camps at Lecompton, and below 
Franklin. 

Yesterday, two of our ladies went out some ten miles, and 
brought in two kegs of powder. The guard of the invaders 



148 KANSAS. 

halted them, but apologized by saying, "I thought you were 
gentlemen." 

Some of the enemy entered the house of Judge Wakefield, six 
miles from Lawrence. They ransacked it; and, going into the 
chambers, fired through the floor, the ball passing directly by the 
head of a sick lady, who was Ij^'ing on a bed in the lower room. 
They have committed depredations upon the property of the 
Indians, at which they felt outraged. They are constantly taking 
prisoners any people from other settlements, coming to our aid, 
unless in large numbers ; and we feel constant anxiety for our 
messengers who have been out some time. 

Coleman, the murderer, fired into our guard; the fire was 
returned, the ball taking efiect in the mule he was riding. It 
died soon after reaching Franklin. Had the guard known the 
man, he would have escaped less easily. 

Gov. Shannon was in town again to-day. Col. Sumner declined 
to send any force, because he cannot act without orders from the 
President. The treaty was made with the people. The governor 
made a speech to the soldiers, telling them he has been laboring 
under a mistake ; that if there were Missourians here they came 
of their own accord ; that he had called upon none but the people 
of the territory. They would now disperse. He believed the 
people of Lawrence were a law-abiding people ; indeed, he had 
learned that he had misunderstood them, and that they were an 
estimable and orderly people. He was glad to find there was no 
occasion for an attack upon the town, and no laws had been 
violated, etc. Cheers were attempted, but the muffled sound was 
little like the spontaneous, outgushing gladness of a satisfied 
people. There was yet a suspicion among them that the terms 
of peace had been too easily entered into ; that something of their 
rights had been conceded by their leaders. The officers in com- 
mand also made addresses, which more heartily called forth the 
expression of the people ; and, with the governor, Generals Eob- 
inson and Lane went dovi^n to Franklin to meet the officers in the 
invading army. The governor had desired them to do so, because 
many of the leaders in his army were determined upon the guns 



THE DEATH OF BARBER — THE TREATY. 149 

being delivered up, and he wished some other convincing argu- 
ments than his own to be used with them. 

The night was exceedingly tempestuous. The wind raged with 
unequalled fury, and was full of driving snow and sleet. All of 
the afternoon it had been so strong and furious, that boards, ten 
or twelve feet long, lying in a pile back of the house, had been 
blown, end over end, in every direction. But the night had added 
violence to the storm, and scarcely anything could make headway 
against, or live long out in it. Our Scotch friend had just come 
in with ears almost frozen. 

We pity the guard who faithfully watch for our safety in such 
a wild night as this. The password for the night, " Pitch in," 
given by our gallant Adjutant-General Dietzler, who has command 
in the temporary absence of General Robinson, was in strange con- 
sonance with the wildness of the terrific storm. A double guard 
was put on, that each man might be oftener relieved from the 
watch, and to be in better readiness for any attack, which many 
fear. The anxiety felt for the safe return of the officers from 
Franklin was intense, so little faith have our people in the honor 
or the plighted word of the invaders. 

At Franklin Generals Kobinson and Lane met thirteen captains 
of the invaders in a little room. The governor made a long 
statement of the existing state of things. He told them that a 
misunderstanding had occurred ; that the people of Lawrence had 
violated no law ; that they would not resist any properly appointed 
officer in the execution of the laws ; that the guns would not be 
given up ; and concluded by advising them to go home to Mis- 
souri. 

An escort had been promised to Generals E. and L. back to 
Lawrence ; and when, at about seven o'clock, they left for home, 
one man only was provided to go with them. After going about 
one hundred yards, he too bade them " Good-evening," and 
wheeled his horse, leaving them in the enemy's country, without 
escort *o pass the picket-guard. Li this Egyptian darkness, the 
wind and sleet driving, and effi3ctually blinding their eyes, they 
trusted to their horses to keep their way homeward, knowing they 
were in the road only by the sound of their hoofs upon the frozen 
13* 



150 KANSAS. 

earth. But safely, though once General Robinson's horse fell 
under him, without injury to himself or it, they reached Law- 
rence. Later in the night word came in that a party of the 
ruffians had taken possession of a house a mile or two from town, 
driving the family out in the storm. General Dietzler went out 
to bring them in. The three prisoners were armed with a large 
number of deadly weapons, and were almost frozen. Their plea 
for going to the house was that they had lost their way. Sus- 
picion was strong against them, from all the circumstances, that 
they left Franklin with the design of assassinating Generals Rob- 
inson and Lane, but were unable to keep the road, and very truly 
may have lost their way. 

^th. — The governor having ordered his men to disperse, many 
did so, while many other turbulent spirits, who had been dragged 
out of Missouri by their cupidity, by much persuasion, and by 
being told that now was the time, if ever, for the extermination 
of the Yankees, made loud complaints, and were determined upon 
a fight. Their anger towards the governor was also expressed 
loudly at this peaceful termination of the raid. With the terrible 
discomfort of the last night in camp, many of the men having no 
tents, with the failure of the whiskey, there arose a general dis- 
satisfaction. 

They carried home to Missouri their dead bodies — one killed 
by the falling of a tree, one shot by the guard accidentally, and 
one killed in some sort of a quarrel. One of Kansas' best citi- 
zens had lost his life, and much property been destroyed, all from 
a " misunderstanding." The following are the articles of nego- 
tiation and adjustment : 

" Whereas there is a misunderstanding between the people of 
Kansas, or a portion of them, and the governor thereof, arising 
out of the rescue, near Hickory Point, of a citizen under arrest, 
and some other matters ; and whereas a strong apprehension 
exists that said misunderstanding may lead to civil strife and 
bloodshed ; and whereas it is desired, by both Governor Shannon 
and the people of Lawrence and vicinity, to avert a calamity so 



THE DEATH OF BARBER — THE TREATY. 151 

disastrous to the interests of the territory and the Union, and to 
place all parties in a correct position before the world, — 

" Now, therefore, it is agreed by the said Governor Shannon, 
and the undersigned people of Lawrence, that the matter in dis- 
pute be settled as follows, to wit : 

" We, the said citizens of said territory, protest that the said 
rescue was made without our knowledge or consent, but, if any of 
our citizens were engaged, we pledge ourselves to aid in the exe- 
cution of any legal process against them ; that we have no knowl- 
edge of the previous, present, or prospective existence of any 
organization in the said territory for the resistance of the laws, 
and that we have not designed, and do not design, to resist the 
legal service of any criminal process therein, but pledge ourselves 
to aid in the execution of the laws, when called on by proper 
authority, in the town or vicinity of Lawrence, and that we will 
use all our influence in preserving order therein ; and we declare 
that we are now, as we ever have been, ready at any time to aid 
the governor in securing a posse for the execution of such process : 
provided, that any person thus arrested in Lawrence or vicinity, 
while a foreign force shall remain in the territory, shall be duly 
examined before a United States district judge of said territory 
in said town, and admitted to bail; and provided, further, that 
Governor Shannon agrees to use his influence to secure to the 
citizens of Kansas Territory remuneration for any damages sus- 
tained, or unlawful depredations, if any such have been committed 
by a sherifl''s posse in Douglas County ; and, further, that 
Governor Shannon states that he has not called upon persons 
residents of any other state to aid in the execution of the laws, 
and such as are here in this territory are here of their own choice ; 
and that he has not any authority or legal power to do so, nor 
will he exercise any such power, and that he will not call on any 
citizen of another state who may be here. That we wish it under- 
stood that we do not herein express any opinion as ^o the validity 
of the enactments of the Territorial Legislature. 

"(Signed), "AVilson Shannon, 

" C. Robinson, 
" J. H. Lane." 



152 KANSAS. 

The prisoners on both sides were released. Several who had 
been in the camp of the enemy were in town to-day. In times 
of war there are no Sabbaths, and we had no service to-day. The 
governor, with Jones and General Strickler, came in this morning. 

A dinner was provided for them at the Cincinnati House ; and, 
in a private room, some who are not averse, either by nature or 
principle, to a social glass, had provided such entertainment for 
the governor. Every one coming in, who ever thus degraded his 
higher nature, " must drink with the governor." At each glass 
which he drank he said, " Now here 's to the Baptist preacher." 

When the dinner was ready, and the blessing about to be 
implored, the governor broke out in this new strain : " This is 
the happiest day of my life, by Gr — d ! " 

The story of the Baptist preacher is simply this : When Mr. 
Pomeroy left Lawrence for Kansas city, some men, watching him 
in Lawrence, immediately notified the camp at Franklin, and a 
company of men forthwith was sent out to intercept him. Having 
nearly reached the Baptist Mission, the party came up, and asked 
where he was going. 

He said briefly, " To our mission; " and at once the party gave 
him the soubriquet of " the Baptist preacher." One of the party, 
however, quite unfortunately as it regarded his further progress 
towards " our mission," recognized him. He was taken by them 
across the river again ; and wet and cold, without fire, he slept in 
their camp on the Wakarusa. Threats ran high against him ; 
and his peril became so imminent, that, when his guard had fallen 
asleep, Atchison, to whom the ruffians had given the euphonious 
title of " Old Dave," took him to Blue Jacket's, an Indian house, 
where some of the officers had their head-quarters. 

Atchison has declared to the rough men who follow him, " that 
they cannot fight now. The position the Lawrence people have 
taken is such that it would not do to make an attack upon them ; 
it would ruin the democratic cause too. But, boys, we'll fight 
some time, by G — d ! " 

Mr. Redpath, a young Englishman, came in from Leavenworth, 
and in his facetious way, which makes the most common thing 
replete with interest and life, and turns the dull and serious into 



THE DEATH OF BAEBER — THE TREATY. 153 

fun and gayety, told the story of his departure from Leavenwarth, 
in company with four or five others, to come to Lawrence ; how 
they were intercepted, and at last taken prisoners, and only 
released this morning. 

My husband had not now been home for several days, save to 
dine on Friday. Towards evening he sent a carriage, and a 
request that I should come down town. So, quickly donning 
heavy English shawl and furs, we were soon there. I sat in the 
carriage while a messenger notified him of my arrival. He re- 
turned, bringing the word, " The general says, ' Come up to the 
council-chamber ; ' " and, under his escort, I passed through a 
file of soldiers guarding the door, also through halls similarly 
guarded, and up the rough staircases, until I reached the further 
end of the third story, where, upon a slight knock, the door was 
opened, and, with ceremony, I was ushered into the presence of, 
and introduced to. Gen. Robinson. This being through with, I 
noticed several ladies, friends and acquaintances, sitting by ; and, 
when a few more were gathered together, we were informed by 
the general that " the war is over ; the hatchet is buried ; that 
the late enemy have expressed a desire to cultivate a conciliatory 
and friendly spirit with their neighbors in Lawrence ; that it is 
better to bridge over past difierences by the kindly, pleasant 
offices of good-will and friendship. As a token of our willingness 
to accept and give any pledges of our good ofiices in the future, 
we will to-morrow invite Gov. Shannon, and any of his friends 
from Missouri who will remain, to a social gathering." The 
ladies were also informed that to them they would look for the 
necessary refreshments for the evening. 

How New England's high-toned propriety would be shocked at 
the idea of " getting up " a party on so short notice, and some 
seven or eight hundred guests expected ! What would occupy a 
month's time there, and any amount of unnecessary words, is done 
here equally as well in an eighth part of the time, with a greater 
amount of pleasure coming to all. 

Another reason for the meeting of the morrow's evening is 
that Gov. Shannon might see that the people neither have the 
look of " paupers " nor " rebels." The ladies found time amid 



154 KANSAS. 

the arrangements to speak to tlie governor, wlio sat by, an occa- 
sional word; and to one and all he was free to say, " This is the 
happiest day of my life." He stated also, " that he liked the 
people of Lawrence so well, he should come to live among them. " 
Had the people undergone a sudden transformation ? 

A rumor came in during the evening from the invading horde 
still linsierino; in the borders, and reached the watchful ear of the 
governor. "His militia" were so indignant with him for the 
truce, that they threatened him with lynching, and an immediate 
attack upon Lawrence. He is fearful, and lacks the boldness of a 
man who has done his duty. Lynching is rather an unpleasant 
mode of making one's exit, and especially undignified to a person 
holding the honorable office of governor. Such a terminus to his 
career must be avoided. A simple remedy is at hand, and the 
fluttering heart says " Save me from my friends." Feeling doubt- 
less like the man who " digged a pit for his enemies, but into it 
he fell," he signed the commission of Generals Robinson and Lane, 
authorizing them to use the force under them, a properly con- 
stituted militia-, and make good their defence. 

The following is the document in question : — 

"To Charles Robinson and J. H. Lane. You are hereby 
authorized and directed to take such measures, and use the en- 
rolled forces under your command in such manner, for the preserva- 
tion of the peace and the protection of the persons and property 
of the people of Lawrence and vicinity, as in your judgment 
shall best secure that end. 

"(Signed), Wilson Shannon. 

" Lawrence, Dec. ^tk, 1855." 

\^th, — The early morning finds us busy in the culinary de- 
partment. The making of seven loaves of bread and five of cake, 
with other necessary work, leaves only a few stray moments in 
which to finish a letter, which is to be a messenger of good tidings 
to friends far away under the home-roof, whose nights on our 
account have been sleepless and days filled with suspense. It is 
already three and a half o'clock, and the ladies were to meet at four 
o'clock. So pressing into the service, as bearers of burdens, two 
young men, who called opportunely, I went down, and was soon 



THE DEATH OF BARBER — THE TREATY. 155 

astonished by the huge baskets of provisions which were provided. 
Had the Missourians looked in upon the well-filled tables prepared 
on so brief notice, they would have given up the idea of starving 
us to terms ; and had New England added her presence among 
the welcome guests, with her well-filled pockets and stocks in trade, 
she would have realized that, in the large open-heartedness and 
freedom from conventionalities of her frontier children, there is 
much of the real, true enjoyment of life. 

During the speeches of the early part of the evening many of 
the ladies stood upon tables ranged around the walls, and their 
position even there was one of compactness. The incidents of the 
last few weeks were recalled, and those of the war recited. The 
bringing in of the cannon through the enemy's country, and of 
the powder by the ladies, had honorable mention. A " compro- 
mise measure " also afforded a good deal of merriment. The first 
week of the invasion a gentleman heard at Lecompton that it 
was the governor's plan to demand that the arms of the people 
of Lawrence should be delivered up. Upon this gentleman's 
return to Lawrence, he asked Gen. Robinson what answer he would 
make to such a demand. 

His reply was brief: " I would propose a compromise measure ; 
keep the rifles, and give them the contents." 

Gov. Shannon did not stay to the " party." When the morn- 
ing came he found his business required his attention at the mis- 
sion, and he went on his way. But " Sheriff Jones " was there, 
and there were some there beside who did not cherish that spirit 
of forgiveness and conciliation, which makes man magnanimous 
in the treatment of an enemy; and the general's party at one 
time came near proving anything but a "peace party." There 
was a spirit there full of ambition, and a desire for office. And 
while the murder of young Barber was fresh in the minds of his 
friends ; while the voice of poor, weak human nature would say 
revenge if the right chord was touched; and while "Sheriff 
Jones, " an officer of the territorial courts, was an invited guest 
of Gen. Robinson, and political capital could be made; with 
what wonderful ingeniousness it wrought to keep alive this spirit 
of revenge in their breasts ! The object was evident to all, and 



156 KANSAS. 

the indignation of many was hardly kept within bounds. The 
event, however, proved hut another instance of the evil, which 
was intended for another, recoiling upon one's own head. 

After this unpropitious opening of the evening, we had music 
and social pleasant converse with many friends we seldom 
meet. 

Dr. C, a young Kentuckian, one of the released prisoners, 
was here last night. He was in the enemy's camp at Lecompton. 
After a sickness of several weeks at Topeka, and a week or so of 
feebleness at our house, he left on Tuesday the 27th for his home 
at Doniphan. On his way thither he was attacked by the mob, 
disarmed and brought back some sixty miles. Being brought to 
the camp the other prisoner, Mr. W., also being with him, they 
were given in charge to "Sheriff Jones." Weak as Dr. C. 
was from his recent illness, the fever still lurking in his veins, he 
was carried this long distance, then placed in a cold and very open 
room which was used as a liquor store. Beside all the noise and 
confusion usually attendant upon such resorts, Jones and others 
came in at night and " played poker at twenty-five cents ante.'' 
The room was so filled with men that he was obliged to sit up all 
night. There was constant talk of hanging, and most bitter 
threats used. Jones did not hesitate to tell Mr. Y/"., in regard to 
a certain matter, that he must "tell or swing." Kelly, of the 
Squatter Sovereign, told him he thirsted for blood, and should like 
to see him hung on the first tree. 

Dr. G. was very weak, and had now become delirious from the 
intense excitement and fatigue. Dr. Stringfellow and one or two 
other physicians were in attendance all night. One of the guard 
reasoned with Jones upon his treatment of the prisoners, until he 
desisted. 

Other prisoners were similarly treated. One old man, whose 
years among civilization would have been a guaranty against 
insult, was treated with like cruelty. The rope with which they 
threatened to hang him was repeatedly shown him ; but, heedless 
of their threats, and above the raging of the storm, which gave 
fair promise of leaving the hangman without any upon whom to 



THE DEATH OF BARBER — THE TREATY. 157 

exercise his office, his voice was heard, " Send it a little colder, 
Lord ! " 

And amid the fearful oaths and unceasing threats of evil, there 
was the same earnest plea: " Lord, send it a little colder." 

\2th. — The different companies were drawn out in lines yes- 
terday, and farewell addresses were made them by their officers. 
The Lawrence companies then escorted those from the other settle- 
ments a little way out of town. 

The war is over for the present. Yet we cannot hope for any 
permanent peace until the strong arm of an executive, who will 
not disgrace his office, be interposed for the protection of the 
settlers, who in good faith came to make homes, rebuilding the 
old landmarks so ruthlessly torn down by the corruption of men 
in power. 

So long as the excitable, brutal men along the borders are 
wrought upon by every incentive which can influence them, by 
such men as Atchison and Stringfellow, so long are we exposed 
to murder, rapine and pillage, at their hands. The sheriff in this 
invasion was prime mover, and upon him rests the chief guilt. 
At Lecompton, soon after the peace, he declared, "Major Clark and 
Burns both claim the honor of killing that d — d abolitionist, 
and I don't know which ought to have it. If Shannon had n 't 
been a d — d old fool, that peace would never have been declared. 
He would have wiped Lawrence out. He had men and means 
enough to do it." Nothing could illustrate better the bitterness 
and treachery of his character, when he accepts the invitation, 
and makes one of the " peace party " in Lawrence. 

At Douglas, Stringfellow informed his motley gang that the 
" thing is settled ; " that " they are sold ; " that " Shannon has 
turned traitor ; " " he has disgraced himself and the whole pro- 
slavery party." 

By the misrepresentations of Jones, Grov. Shannon brought this 
force from a neighboring state, against a peaceable community. 
He saw his error, and entered into a treaty. Who ever before 
heard of a governor entering into a treaty with the citizens over 
whom his own jurisdiction extends, having in view their obedi- 
ence to the laws ? This treaty states, moreover, that Gov. Shan- 
14 



158 KANSAS. 

non " had not called upon persons residents of any other state to 
aid in the execution of the laws." Yet several gentlemen from 
Missouri come up with him to Lawrence, and in council treat for 
peace. When our officers go to Franklin, at his urgent request, it 
is to meet, at their head-riuarters, the captain and officers of his 
army. Does this look like any variation from the truth? The 
governor is complained of bitterly by the men who say that on 
the first evening of his return from Lawrence to the head-quarters 
on the Wakarusa, he stated distinctly the arms were to be given 
up. The rabble, with many expressions of dissatisfaction, have 
sought their homes. The leaders, suffering from the smart of 
mortification, consider themselves sold, Judas-like, by one who 
should be the soul of honor, integrity and justice, and whom they 
trusted as a strong ally in the subjugation of this freedom-loving 
and down-trodden people. Feeling that their defeat has indeed 
been ignoble and signal, they, nursing secret discontent, and 
thirsting for revenge, will plan a new invasion, new schemes of 
villany. There is no settlement of the difficulty. It is only the 
present lull of the late storm, gathering, it may be, greater fury. 
While the border leagues are still in being, and they as strongly 
determined now, as for a year past, to make Kansas a slave 
state ; while the settlers in Kansas have grown yet more strong 
in their devotion to the principles of freedom from the infamous 
measures taken by Grov. Shannon, and the other officials, to forci- 
bly wrest them from them, there is no certainty of peace. Since 
Gov. Shannon has brought a mob against Lawrence ; since he, 
with Judge Lecompte and other appointees of the President, 
have fraternally sympathized with Atchison and Stringfellow, 
the depth, the intensity of the feeling of our people against such 
a tyrannical rule cannot be estimated. 

The seeds of difficulty are sown broadcast, and no one can tell 
what trivial circumstance shall cause a sudden, terrible outbreak. 
There is ignorance among this excitable class of men in the bor- 
der counties, but the ignorance is not the principal cause for fear. 
Such men as Col. Boone of Westport, who was Gov. Shannon's 
chief adviser, rule these men ; and when Col. Boone came to Law- 
'-ence with his portly bearing and most dignified manners, one could 



THE DEATH OF BARBEE — THE TREATY. 159 

hardly believe he was a "border ruffian." While the words, 
" he carae to see if everything was done right," were repeatedly 
upon his tongue, his inflammatory appeals for men and money to 
aid in this invasion, in which there was no shadow of truth, were 
sent through all the border. He has, beside, never failed to be 
active in these invasions and frauds upon the ballot-box. 

Unless the federal government interposes for the relief of the 
actual settler, there is yet imminent danger that other martyrs for 
liberty will fall beneath the assassin's blow ; that these broad prai- 
ries, whose very air breathes life and freedom, consecrated by God 
when fresh from his forming hand, sealed by a sacred compact 
of men, shall again be consecrated by their blood. 



CH A.PTER XII. 

FUNERAL OF BARBER — DEATH OF R. P. BROWN. 

Dec. Ibth. — The day of the election upon the adoption of the 
state constitution. The vote for the constitution was small, coming 
as it did on the heels of the invasion. In some of the districts 
the constitutions were not received. There was no opportunity 
to canvass the territory; and where appointments had been 
made for meetings, there was no speaking. At Leavenworth 
there was a gathering of some of the forces who had been before 
Lawrence. As the election was proceeding quietly, Charles 
Dunn, with a party, smashed in the window of the building where 
the election was being held, jumped in, and drove off the judges 
of election. One of the clerks of election, in attempting to 
save the ballot-box, was seized by the throat by Dunn. He was 
also struck in the face by Dunn, and by another person, 
until he fell, when the crowd rushed upon him, kicking him in 
the head and sides. Dunn and party then carried off the ballot- 
boxes. 

IQth. — It is a clear, bright December day, and the snows, 
which came in small quantity, are fast melting, and mingling 
with the clayey soil. So, besides the burden of rubbers, one has 
to carry no little portion of the native earth. But, as Mr. 
Barber was to be disinterred from his hasty burial in town, to be 
buried with martial honors to-day, we made the half-mile walk. 
First, however, arranging for the sick man at home. Mr. C. had 
gone beyond his strength, in an attempted journey, and he was 
again a fixture in the chimney-corner. He threatens, with -a mix- 
ture of "quinine and sulphuric acid," to drive away the chills; 



FUNERAL OF BARBER — DEATH OF BROWN. 161 

but whether he may not drive himself away, his fragility contin- 
ually suggests. However, in these days of reform and progress, 
it has become fashionable to " die of the doctor rather than the 
disease." 

As we reached the hotel, which had indeed become the place 
for all assemblies, meetings to discuss the affairs of the country, 
or pleasure-gatherings, the barracks for soldiers, and now where the 
services for the dead were to be performed, the wagons and 
carriages standing around, and the groups of people hurrying in 
all directions, showed that the feeling of the people was aroused. 
We passed among the crowd, and, narrowly escaping a fall into 
one of the ditches made by the throwing up of the entrench- 
ments, ascended the inclined boards at the doorway, which served 
for steps. 

As I entered the long dining-hall, where but a week since was 
the sound of rejoicing, it seemed as though every place was full. 
But a friendly heart, though a stranger's, made room on one of 
the long settees. Long boards had also been brought in for extra 
seats, and these were full of this sympathizing community. 

It was a strange, a motley group. There were hats of satin 
and velvet, with plumes, and Paris flowers, with dresses of rich 
material, and costly furs. There were brides of a few months, 
just arrived in this western home, and city belles come out for a 
winter's sojourn where the artificial has wholly given place to 
simplicity and nature. There were some with log-cabin bonnets 
of black silk, or cotton velvet, and dress of plain coarse stuff, 
giving to the wearer an odd, strange look. There were others 
whoso apparel is the safer medium between the two, which ever 
bespeaks the taste and intelligence of the wearer. 

There were many who have lived their whole lives in cities, 
accustomed to their elegancies and refinements, who are now 
roughing it with the simple dwellers in nature's halls. Yet, over 
all this immense crowd, who had gathered from many miles 
around to take part in this mournful service, was spread the hal- 
lowed, chastening influence of this great sorrow. There was not 
one present but would willingly have taken pai-t of the burden, 
could it have lessaied the crushing woe of the lone bereaved one. 
14-^ 



162 KANSAS. 

Silence pervaded the assembly, and many a heart whose tendrils 
yet cling inbroken around their loved ones, who seemingly had 
been in perils more and greater, felt a deep thankfulness that, 
rudely torn asunder, they did not then lie bleeding, the fond object 
dying, withering. 

There was a sound of people moving, the tread of many feet, a 
heart-breaking sob, and many turned to look. Had they passed 
through hours wh3n the death angel had stricken down the loved 
from their own pathway, they would have realized how like sac- 
rilege is this gazing of the multitude upon the broken, crushed 
spirit, burying its dead. 

Then the sob came from the other end of the hall, and the tall, 
white-haired, blue-eyed man, who knew her husband, and would 
perform the service, bent over her, to speak some comforting word. 
But, like Rachel, she refused to be comforted. A hymn was read, 
and the audience sang an old, familiar tune ; but ever and anon, 
amid the singing, there came this wailing, this moaning, as though 
the heart must break through its earthly fetters. Short speeches 
followed from Generals Lane and Robinson, and then a sad sermon. 

When the preacher spoke of death finding the one taken in the 
performance of his duty, a duty cheerfully performed for his 
country ; that from this service he had been taken to a higher ; 
of him who will be to the widow more than husband or child ; of 
the evanescence of human life, and of that fairer country, beyond 
the dark waters of death, where the cruel reign of the tyrant is 
over ; we felt that a response went out from the poor lone one's 
heart, — that she had caught a glimpse of the bright chain reach- 
ing from heaven, earthward, — and that she would realize, more 
fully than in life, the nearness of the loved spirit. 

The services were over, and preparations were made to bear the 
lamented dead to the burial. The military companies, with arms 
reversed, walked first, the generals, upon horseback, leading the 
way. There was the company from Lawrence, and the " Barker 
Guards ; " then the body of the dead, and the sad mourners — the 
widow and brothers ; then the neighbors of the quiet, inofiensive 
man, who felt most keenly his death ; then the whole community. 
All kinds of vehicles wagons, and carriages, fell into the rear, and 



FUNERAL OF BARBER — DEATH OF BROWN. 163 

in solemn procession made a long line over the prairie. Soon they 
wound up the lone, steep way, over Mount Oread. 

A mile further over the level prairie the procession moved on 
slowly, " for it was a man they bore." The soldiers formed in 
lines on either side, with bowed heads and lifted hats. The mourn- 
ers passed through, and stood around the open grave. The coffin 
was gently lowered, the falling earth rattled upon its lid — a 
dread, fearful sound; the bitter wailing of the desolate, child- 
less, earth-stricken widow rose above the sad moaning of the win- 
ter wind, and broke in upon the words, " Dust to dust," — "I am 
the resurrection and the life." 

The mourners fell back, giving place to the soldiers, who then 
stood around the grave, and each division fired their rifles into the 
last resting-place of their loved and honored comrade. 

Such a scene as this the actors in it had never before witnessed, 
and with similar emotions never will again. In this glorious old 
country, with its hills so smoothly terraced, its prairies boundless, 
over which, a twelvemonth since, the Indian alone roamed with 
the wild deer in the venerable forests, now in concord the white 
man dwells with his red brother. There is no war between them, 
no enmity. But another power, more hideous, more grasping, has 
arisen. These beautiful lands are coveted by the slave power. It 
threatens boldly, and with all its treachery, all its hateful wiles 
unmasked, to bring the dark-browed race, whose color is their crime, 
to suffer here ; that with the sweetly-perfumed breath of these green 
prairies shall come to our ears the wailing of her who is worse 
than widowed, and the sad cry of children who know no tenderer 
words of man than those of the bloody task-master and tyrant. 

For this the slave power has another victim, and the solemn 
prairie has witnessed the burial of liberty's third martyr to-day. 
Stern men, unused to weep, and timid women, have bowed with 
the stricken, and shared their grief. The blow, falling most heav- 
ily on her, leaves them not untouched, and the warning is loud 
and deep, " Death to your liberties." The love we had always 
borne to freedom is tenfold increased, while the hatred of op- 
pression is intensified and strengthened. A new consecration of 
our energies, in this unequal fight for freedom, is made over 



164 KANSAS. 

the new-made grave. And it is no child's play, — no work merely 
of vO-day, — but a life-service. It is easy to boast of putting on 
the harness, and to be lull of courage, when quiet sits by one's 
own fireside, and when the crowd are pressing eagerly on to vic- 
tory, with banners waving, and music filling the air ; but it is 
another thing in this frontier land, where for very weariness with 
watching the soul faints, where there is no gloss of military 
trappings, where the plumes are tattered, and the little army, 
weary and struggling, is passing through sorrow and the wilder- 
ness. 

In the prospect of freedom's bulwarks raised high and strong 
we can yet exult. It will be accomplished by no magic power, 
but by faithful service, and patient endurance. Strong arms will 
hew out the timber, dig broad and deep the trenches, and rear 
high the walls. It will cost many tears and cares, anxieties and 
prayers, and the sorrow of many spirits hopeful to-day. It may 
cost many valued lives ; but we will lay each corner-stone of this 
altar of freedom with the serene, abiding strength of a holy faith ; 
trust all to Him who maketh " the darkness as the noonday," and 
the end will be glorious. 

Sheriff Jones called at the door, before the day was over, for S. 
and T., two young men of New England origin, and of whom she 
may well be proud. They went with him to Lecompton for trial, 
having been engaged in the " rescue " case, and from that court 
will appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, hoping 
thus to test the validity of the territorial laws. We hope this 
willingness of theirs to be the instruments in testing these laws 
will not be at too great a cost. Another of the rescuers was sit- 
ting in the parlor when Jones called for Smith and Tappan, upon 
whom he had previously served the warrant ; but his eye did not 
fall upon the man he had so much longed to arrest. 

22d. — A convention was holden to-day in Lawrence to nomi- 
nate state officers. It was fully attended. The forenoon was 
warm and pleasant ; but the change in the weather, soon after 
dinner, was terrible. 

The cold every moment increased, and snow commenced falling 
with the evening shadows. E. wrapped herself in blankets, and 



FUNERAL OF BARBER — DEATH OF BROWN. 165 

took a nap on the lounge. I tried to write a letter, sitting on 
a cricket, close to the stove, with lamp upon a music-stool ; but it 
required so much time to change positions, to keep some part of 
me from freezing, that I concluded to lay it by for a warmer day 
The next suggestion was, as it would be late before they would 
return from the convention, to try to go to sleep. There was a 
crispy sound of new-fallen snow, the moment one's foot was on the 
stairway, and all through the chambers, over trunks, bureaus, 
beds, and everywhere, was spread this white mantle. The roof 
was impervious to rain, but the fine snow sifted in everywhere. 
So, gently shaking the pillows, I lay down, and the fleecy covering 
was still falling. Twice I went down to replenish the fire, lest 
when they came they would be almost frozen, and the clock struck 
three, ere, through the wildness of the night, I heard cheerful 
voices approaching the house. Some of the gentlemen had frozen 
their ears, and were free to declare that the night was awful. 

Vfe New Englanders consoled ourselves by thinking that in her 
borders it Vv^as even colder than here, while our guests, who had 
been used to the mild climate of southern Illinois and Kentucky, 
could hardly believe that this was the " very mild climate " which 
travellers have termed it, or that "cattle could graze " and " flow- 
ers bloom the whole year." Before the gentlemen retired, I made 
an effort to remove the snow from their bed ; but it was continu- 
ally falling, and the attempt was nearly useless. 

23d. — T. and S. have returned from Lecompton. They were 
committed for trial, but Jones let them out on parole, until the 
time they are to go to Leavenworth to be imprisoned. 

24:tk. — Still snowing, and the weather terribly severe. The 
thermometer seventeen degrees below zero, wind is blowing, and the 
snow drifting into all imaginable shapes. To travel in it seems 
impossible, and many times to-day I am querying what will be- 
come of the party who left here last evening. To face a Missouri 
mob is nothing to facing these winds which sweep over the prairies. 

Four young men — two from New England, one from England, 
and our Scotch friend — are stopping here. They try to write, 
but the ink can only be kept in a fluid state by keeping it on the 
stove, while it freezes in their pens. Were it not for their good 



166 KANSAS. 

spirits, and fun-loving natures, I belieTe we should all freeze to- 
gether. As it is, there are many things to provoke a laugh eveL 
amid the discomforts, and a little warmth remains. We think 
such weather as this can only last a day or two ; for last year, at 
Christmas, people sat with doors and windows open. 

The cows and mules, wandering about without shelter, not being 
able to get a nibble for themselves, look at me pleadingly, as much 
as to say, " Why don't you feed me ? " while many of them find 
their way into our barn and help themselves. 

^dtli. — Cold, bitter, stinging cold ; not so windy as yesterday, 
but the cold more intense. Thermometer ranging between twenty 
and thirty degrees below zero. The water freezes in the tumblers 
at breakfast, and everything eatable, or intended to be eaten, is 
frozen hard. The bread can only be cut as we thaw it by the fire, 
setting the loaf down and cutting one piece at a time. Potatoes, 
squashes, pumpkins, citrons, and apples, are as hard as rocks. 
Several glass pickle-jars, filled with ketchup, are broken open from 
top to bottom. 

26?^. — It is no warmer yet. What will the poor settlers do 
who have no floors in their cabins ? — and there are many such. 
Will their hopeful, cheerful spirit, which has borne them through 
the dark hours now scarcely passed, sustain them against physical 
suffering, it may be actual want ? The sacking of their grana- 
ries and open houses will cause untold ills. 

Now, when New England hears of the destitution of her own 
children, fighting her battles, trusting their all in this dangerous 
strife, will she put her hands into her well-filled pockets, and 
send of her fulness for their necessities? Hungary, yes, poor, 
bleeding Hungary, sought aid and found it here. The nation's 
heart responded. Greece stretched forth her hands not in vain. 
Shall the imploring cry of destitute, starving Kansas reach no 
pitying heart ? 

Gov. Shannon has been at Lecompton for some time. He did 
not come to Lawrence, as he proposed, and it is said he is soon 
going home. The glory won here in his famous war will probably 
suffice him for the remnant of his life, and he may conclude to 
retire upon his laurels. 



FUNERAL OF BARBER — DEA'.tH OF BROWN. 167 

The circuit court should have met last week at Lecompton, but 
after keeping the prisoners there all of the week, the judge not 
then appearing, the court was adjourned until the March term. 
Some of the rescuers have given bail, but T. and S. still refused to 
do so, as it would be recognizing the Missouri territorial justice. 
Getting weary of waiting for Judge Lecompte's appearance, the 
patience of the border ruffians at Lecompton was exhausted. They 
even went so far as to threaten his removal, and cursed him in no 
stinted terms. S., with his love of a good joke, said, 

" If you want to get him removed, I '11 tell you how you may 
easilv do it." 

" How is it? " asked the renowned Sheriff Jones. 

"Why, get him to join the free-state party." 

Another outrage has been committed at Leavenworth. During 
Col. Delahay's absence, while attending the convention here, his 
press was thrown into the river. It looks singular, as he is a 
national democrat, and a personal friend of Stephen A. Douglas. 
He has also always been wonderfully conservative, and ever 
counselled no resistance to the laws. He was, with other leading 
men at Leavenworth, so fearful of doing anything to offend the 
border men, that he declined to do anything for the defence of 
Lawrence. Some of them said, " They have got into a scrape ; let 
them get out the best way they can ! " and one of them, a bache- 
lor, said, " We must stay at home and defend our own wives and 
children." Col. Delahay, however, was a member of the consti- 
tutional convention, and it may be for this that the Missouri mob 
treated his press so rudely. 

2^th. — Doctor arrived home from Kansas city. He had, in 
addition to his heavy fur coat, fur gloves, and fur-lined over- 
shoes, a heavy shawl and mittens, and was very cold even then. 
On his way down he suffered so severely from the cold, that with 
assistance he went into an Indian hut to warm, and for a half hour 
lay fainting on the floor. The cold at Kansas city has been even 
greater than here. It is apparently quiet along the border, yet 
the press in the frontier towns, as well as those papers of pro- 
slavery sentiments in the territory, are endeavoring to inflame the 



168 KANSAfc>. 

populace in such articles as the following, taken from the Kickapoo 
Pioneer, of Dec. 26 : 

" But the abolitionists, or free-state men, if you please, have 
become dissatisfied, and are willing to violate the constitution of 
their country, which explicitly recognizes slavery, and disfran- 
chise themselves as loyal citizens, for the purpose of stealing ne- 
groes, and committing other unconstitutional and unlawful dep- 
redations. Should such men receive any compassion from an or- 
derly, union-loving peojDle ? No ! It is this class of men that 
have congregated at Lawrence, and it is this class of men that 
Kansas must get rid of. And we know of no better method than 
for every man who loves his country, and the laws by which he is 
governed, to meet in Kansas and kill off this God-forsaken class 
of humanity as soon as they place their feet upon our soil." 

While articles like these are circulated through the borders, let- 
ters, calling for men and money, are industriously written and 
published throughout the South. Southern Kansas aid societies 
are being formed, and it is rumored that Gen. Quitman, of Missis- 
sippi, of fillibuster renown, has given twenty-five hundred dollars 
to this society, and will be here in the spring with several hundred 
men from that state. Major Buford, of Alabama, has contributed 
twenty-five thousand dollars for a similar purpose, and upon the 
opening of navigation proposes to be here with three hundred 
southerners. Notwithstanding the hu-e and cry made over north- 
ern emigrant aid societies, will there be aught said against these? 

Ja7i. 1st. — A beautiful, sunny morning ushers in the new year, 
but the air is still keen and cold. For nearly ten days the cold 
has been without precedent, and we, of New England, who came 
hoping to find warm and pleasant winters, begin to surmise we are 
in the wrong latitude, and talk of a new emigration still south- 
ward. 

A gentleman here to-day, who has lived in Missouri over twenty 
years, says he has never seen such weather as this. With his 
large, blue blankets, a place being cut in the centre through which 
he slips his head, his ears and nearly the whole of the face being 
protected by a worsted fabric of gray color, one can hardly tell 
whether he belongs to the Anglo-Saxon or the aboriginal race. 



FUNERAL or BARBEK — DEATH OF BROWN. 169 

The little boy, whose family has but recently moved into the next 
house beyond us, has been in, nearly frozen. He carries all the 
water the family use from our spring, making a distance of nearly 
half a mile. He is a slight little fellow, and only twelve years 
old. He has two pails, and dips the water with a half-pint cup. 
He sits a long time by the dining-room stove, and seems to suffer 
much from his frost-bitten fingers. There is to be a new-year's 
party at the hotel, and the lovers of gayety will be there. 

Qth. — Who ever saw so clear a morning as this ? The smoke 
from the Indian houses over in the Delaware Reserve, and five 
miles away, could be seen gracefully curling and rising above the 
trees, as plainly as that from the house nearest us. The smoke 
rising from so many dwellings, far and near, from the compact 
settlement of Lawrence, and the sun shining upon the snow, making 
it look like a broad mantle studded with glittering gems, formed 
a pleasing, novel sight, well worth a place in memory's gallery. 

\()th. — What odd-looking sleighs our people ride in, and how 
they glide over the smooth, level way ! Yankee invention, so 
much despised, brings a mine of comfort to her frontier children. 
A sleigh is wanted ; the enterprising youth goes into the woods, 
and cuts two poles long enough for runners and shafts. A little 
part between the shafts and runners, leaving each the required 
length, is shaved from the upper side, so that they will bend easily. 
A few little cross-pieces being put in, and two or three cross-boards 
on the runners, with a box for a seat, the vehicle is complete. 
This is the most simple contrivance of all. There is another vari- 
ety of wagon-body on runners, which has the advantage of greater 
safety over the other, with sufficient lightness. From the first we 
have learned of some laughable accidents. A day or two since, two 
young men were riding quite briskly along, when, coming to a 
drift, the horse stopped suddenly, and one of our friends, quicker 
than thought, found himself head foremost in a deep bank, little 
more than boots being visible. He was so completely pinioned by 
the depth of snow, and by the force with which he was sent from 
the slight vehicle, that it was only after extra help had arrived 
that he was extricated. He suffered no injury, and joined in the 
laugh of the bystanders. 
15 



170 KANSAS. 

Idtk, — Word came in last night, about eleven o'clock, of an 
attack at Easton, two messengers having narrowly escaped with 
the intelligence. S. had gone down, late at night, to see if there 
was any news, and he brought back the startling intelligence that 
a fight had occurred at Easton. One pro-slavery man, named 
Cook, mortally wounded ; some free-state men in the hands of the 
mob, whom they threatened to hang if Cook dies. The council of 
war was to be held, and doctor went down with S. immediately. 
Not long after I was awakened again by a loud knocking at 
the door. I opened the window and asked, " What 's wanted ? " 
The reply was, " The general wishes T. to saddle the horse and 
send him down by me." After some amusing and fruitless efibrts, 
T. was at last awakened enough to know that war was abroad, and 
the horse was soon on his way to head-quarters. 

Two or three horsemen left immediately for Leavenworth, to 
apply to Judge Lecompte for a writ of habeas corpus, that the 
prisoners might be released from the gang, while others started for 
Easton, the scene of the trouble. Our people are feeling much 
excited, and ready to lend any assistance to their neighbors in 
peril. 

Owins; to the disturbances at Leavenworth on the fifteenth of 
December, and from rumors of another mob gathering just across 
the river, to prevent this election of the fifteenth of January, the 
mayor issued a proclamation forbidding an election to be held at 
Leavenworth. A few of the free-state men then went to Easton, 
about twelve miles from Leavenworth, where the election had been 
postponed until the seventeenth. On their way to the polls, some 
persons were stopped and disarmed by a body of armed men. In 
the afternoon a company came to Mr. Minard's house, where the 
election was held, and threatened to destroy the ballot-boxes. Late 
at night, as Mr. Sparks and his son were leaving for home, they 
were attacked and taken prisoners by three men. Information of 
it reached Mr. Minard immediately, by a man who left his house 
in company with Mr. Sparks. Mr. Brown and a company of 
others went to the relief of Mr. Sparks, and saved him when in 
imminent peril. As the rescued returned with the rescuers to the 
house, they were fired upon. They returned the fire, and an irreg 



FUNERAL OF BARBER — DEATH OF BROWN 171 

ular fight, firing from behind buildings, commenced. One or two 
free-state men were slightly wounded, while a Mr. Cook, of bitter 
pro-slavery feelings, was wounded mortally. 

21st. — Sunday. Our messengers returned to-night, and brought 
certain knowledge of the murder of R. P. Brown. The blood chilled 
in our veins as we heard the recital of the horrid outrage, and the 
beating heart cried, is there no justice — no avenger? After Mr. 
S. left for Lawrence, Mr. Brown, and seven others from Leaven- 
worth, attempted to return there. They were followed, and taken 
prisoners by the Kickapoo Rangers, headed by Capt. John W. 
Martin. Mr. Brown was placed in a room apart from the others 
of his party. The hours were passing, and the men who had 
them in their power were becoming yet more brutal by the free 
use of liquor, and they were bent upon the death of Mr. Brown. 
Capt. Martin used his influence to prevent such a deed ; but, after 
doing all in his power to save him, he went home. The cruel 
crowd then took him out of the house, and, with blows and kicks, 
and knocking him upon the frozen earth, and literally hacking 
him in pieces with a hatchet, they showed themselves fiendish 
beyond the unenlightened savage. Then throwing him into a 
wagon, with wounds undressed, he was borne several miles, through 
the piercing cold of a January night, to his home. He could only 
say to his wife, " I am murdered by a set of cowards," and death 
ended his sufferings. 

The slave power has another victim, and the shame, the eternal 
infamy of his mournful death will forever, like an incubus, rest 
upon his soul who has the power, yet offers no interference 
against the hunting down of our citizens, by worse than Florida 
blood-hounds ! Was there ever an administration so utterly vile 
as this ? 

Mr. Brown was a tall man, with pleasant dark eyes, olive-brown 
complexion, and dark abundant hair. He was at Lawrence during 
the siege ; one of the few from Leavenworth who ventured so far 
from home. He leaves a wife and child to mourn over his sad, 
heart-rending fate. While Kansas' wrongs are written it the 
blood of her citizens, the cruel, bloody death of her fourth martyr 



172 KANSAS. 

for freedom will never be effaced from the memories of the dwellers 
in this fur-away land. 

2M. — More messengers are in from Easton ; men driven from 
their homes upon peril of their lives, and with continued threats 
of violence. They come to Lawrence, as to a city of refuge. Mr. 
Sparks is now in peril from bands of armed Missourians. Some 
tvrenty-five men go up from here and Topeka. One man, who 
came down to notify the people here, escaped from a band of 
twelve men in hot pursuit, — something after Gen. Putnam's mode, 
of revolutionary memory, — by leaping over a precipitous bank, 
while the enemy did not dare follow. While they were looking 
for a smoother descent, he had time to escape. After Mr. M. 
had been obliged to leave his home, some of the ruffians went to 
his house, asking " if they could come in to get warm." Mrs. M. 
replied, " they could do so by giving her their guns." As they 
sat by the fire, they told her " they had killed her husband." 
However, she gave no credence to it. 

Major Robinson, of Tecumseh, died to-day. He has been ill 
most of the time since the invasion of Lawrence, the disease hav- 
ing been contracted from exposure at that time. For some time 
he was sick at the Cincinnati House ; but there is little room there 
for sick people, and no quiet ; and the noble woman, who has sac- 
rificed much for the cause, in the exposures of last winter and 
this, and the constant absence of her husband, ofi"ered her cabin, 
under the shadow of the hotel, as a place of rest and quiet to the 
sick stranger. The unconsciousness of disease was upon him much 
of the time, and when his mind was dull to things about him, far- 
away scenes were fresh in his memory, and friends he had long 
loved were ministering by his bedside. He talked much with 
his mother, when clouds darkened his mental vision. He said to 
her, " Take off my shoes, mother, for I am tired and weary, and 
I cannot travel further." So, with this sweet consciousness of loved 
friends around him, his life's journey closed. 

2^tk. — It was a little milder this morning ; and, not having 
been out since the cold weather came, I proposed to T. to take me 
to call on a friend,- and to the stores. Not knowing my arrange- 
ments, the doctor had lent both horse and carriage ; and, as I 



FUNERAL OF BARBER — DEATH OF BROWN. 173 

came down stairs, cloak and bonnet on, they were already out of 
sight. T. said, " We '11 not lose our ride in this way," and sug- 
gested taking Mr. P.'s buggy, which was in a sadly dilapidated 
condition, and a mule of somebody's else, quartered in the barn 
for a few days. My only question was as to safety, and we were 
soon rattling over the drifts, now one side inclining far down, 
threatening to spill us out, and then the other. This incessant 
rattling put speed into the wild mule, and a John Gilpin ride we 
had of it for the first quarter of a mile. However, by clinging to 
the frame-work of the seat, for there was nothing left of it but the 
frame-work, we passed over the ravine at the foot of the long slop- 
ing hill west of the house, in safety, and the mule took an easier 
gait both for himself and us. We reached the place of our desti- 
nation. A gentleman opened the door, and asked very blandly, 
" Is this the state carriage ? " 

Doctor having had a more recent title than that of general 
bestowed upon him, I answered, " Yes ; and will your wife 
accept the honor of a ride ? " 

He looked with a dubious expression at the broken dasher, 
swinging forward and back at every motion, the bottom half 
broken out, the shafts tifcJ on with ropes, and the seat cushion- 
lessj- and destitute of every bit of leather it ever boasted, to say 
nothing of broken springs, and wheels with tire half oflP, and said, 
" Yes, if you will insure her safety." 

With blue blanlcets before and around us, instead of bufiiilo- 
robes, we were soon on our way to town, and hurried along at the 
mule's own pace. We laughed until we were weary at the mule's 
antic motions, never bc'fore having had the honor of a ride after 
one. T. and Mrs. C, both Boston bred, laughed at the idea of 
what an impression such an establishment, and such speed, would 
make down Washington-street some pleasant winter's day. After 
a short call at our stores, than which there are none better in 
most New England villages, neatly furnished as some of them are 
with black walnut shelves and counters, we went home. 

Letters from Kansus city and Leavenworth state that some 
deep-laid scheme for our ruin is being planned. They do not 
know what it is, yet advise us to prepare for the worst. There 
15* 



174 KANSAS. 

is a perfect lull at those places, — no bravado, no threats, — all 
of which reminds us of the fearful calm always preceding the 
bursting out of a volcano. Prominent pro-slavery men are seen 
riding into a town ; they hold a few moments' conversation with 
the leaders of their party there, then disappear. Quickly they 
are at another settlement; but no word is dropped as to the 
designs. 

A half ton of lead, and nearly as much powder, arrived to-day. 
Other teams, loaded with the same needful, are on the way. Pro- 
visions, too, are fast coming in, and we will soon be able to stand 
quite a siege. Sixty men, detailed from the various companies, 
are at work upon the different fortifications. A guard is again to 
watch hourly for our safety. 

The Kickapoo Fioiieer office issued, on the morning after the 
murder of Brown, January 18th, the following extra, commencing, 
" Eally ! rally ! " After making several misstatements, — among 
others, that an abolition company from Lawrence had made an 
attack upon the pro-slavery men, — it goes on : " Forbearance has 
now ceased to be a virtue ; therefore, we call upon every pro- 
slavery man in the land to rally to the rescue. Kansas must be 
immediately rescued from the tyrannical dogs. The Kickapoo 
Eangers are at this moment beatinoj to arms. A laro;e number 
of pro-slavery men will leave this place for Easton in twenty 
minutes. The war has again commenced, and the abolitionists 
have again commenced it. Pro-slavery men, law and order men, 
strike for your altars ! strike for your firesides ! strike for your 
rights ! Avenge the blood of your brethren who have been cow- 
ardly assailed, but who have bravely fallen in defence of southern 
institutions. Sound the bugle of war over the length and breadth 
of the land, and leave not an abolitionist in the territory to relate 
their treacherous and contaminating deeds. Strike your piercing 
rifle-balls and your glittering steel to their black and poisonous 
hearts ! Let the war-cry never cease in Kansas again until our 
territory is wrested of the last vestige of abolitionism." 

2hth. — Still more snow. The beautiful white covering lies two 
feet in depth on a level, and four or five in the drifts all over the 
country. It is the shield, the protection of the good Father for our 



FUNERAL or BARBER — DEATH OF BROWN. 175 

defence. While the administration, with that corruption which will 
make it infamous in the annals of our country in all coming time, 
turns a deaf ear to the agonized cry of widows and orphans ; while 
the President says, " No acts prejudicial to good order have oc- 
curred under circumstances to justify the interposition of the 
federal government," the ear of Him, who will call to account for 
his stewardship any who make so base a use of power, is open, and 
he sends, for the present safety, this weather of unequalled sever- 
ity, and fast-falling snows. 

Horses go ploughing through it, with difficulty making any 
headway. The most people we see moving to-day are with heavy 
sleds of wood, drawn by three or four yoke of oxen. We burn a 
cord and a half of wood a week, and, our wood-pile growing less 
not very gradually, we have watched with a good deal of interest 
a load which attempted to come up the hill this afternoon. The 
oxen pulled with all their strength ; the driver now coaxed, and 
then scolded. The oxen would lose their foothold, and plunge 
headlong into the deep drifts. Sometimes the forward yoke of 
cattle would turn fairly around, and face the load. All exertions 
to right them were of no avail until they were unyoked. As the 
night was coming fast, and the driver two miles from home, the 
load was thrown ofif about half way up the hill. The next morn- 
ing the man came back, and succeeded in getting half of the load 
to the house. He was until midnight getting home the pre- 
vious night, as he lost his way and wandered about hours in the 
darkness. 

AVood is one of the principal articles of consumption here this 
winter. Most of that burned is black walnut. There is also no 
lack of provisions here. Flour of the best quality can be bought 
in Missouri for four dollars and a half per hundred. We have 
always had good flour until this winter. Just after the invasion, 
a load of flour made of grown wheat was brought in. Apples, of 
the best quality and flavor, are very plenty. They sold in the 
autumn for one dollar a bushel. Sweet potatoes were abundant 
at one dollar twenty-five cents. These, with the apples, came 
from Missouri, but the nicest of squashes and other vegetables 
were raised in the territory. Squashes sold for one cent per 



176 KANSAS. 

pound, and pumpkins one dollar and fifty cents per hundred. 
Butter, made here, is very nice, and until quite recently has 
been plenty at twenty-five cents. Milk varies from four to ten 
cents per quart. Beside the meats, beef, etc., venison, prairie 
chickens, turkeys, rabbits and squirrels, are often in the market ; 
also oysters, in sealed cans. Yet, with all these gratifications for 
the palate, it is more than probable that, all these long days, 
some of our people have not tasted of them for want of money to 
buy them. Many a person gave freely of what he had in the 
siege of December, and while on guard at Lawrence lost all of his 
crops at home. As a people we are bankrupt. Remittances from 
the East are lost, or the same thing to us, retained, with letters, 
by the officious meddlers in government pay in a neighboring 
state. Money drafts are months on their way, when twelve or four- 
teen days is all-sufficient time for the journey. The people in the 
territory are at no time safe. The cabin of the lone settler on 
the prairie is momentarily exposed to attack, yet no light comes 
from Congress — none from its head. 

This winter will be ever remembered for its unprecedented 
severity, and for that wicked use of power by the administration 
which would make the career of Caligula magnanimous and spot- 
less in the comparison. Those who sit in sealed houses, and by 
warm hearth-stones, no foes without or fears within, can never 
realize, as we in Kansas, on the exposed outposts, what a winter 
this has been to us. Our senses sharpened by the actual necessi- 
ties of life, and our perceptions quickened by their unsleeping 
vigilance and constant action, none better than we can realize the 
terrible infamy which will cling to those who have been the chief 
abettors in filling up this cup of evil. Wrong-doing has marked 
their pathway, and shame will be their reward. Yet there is a 
golden bow of promise over us, the bright rainbow of hope ; and, 
in characters clear as the sunlight and radiant as truth, beneath 
the arch encircling the snow-clad hills and prairies, and the sad 
dwellers anong them, is written : '* The days of the tyrant are 
numbered. He will hasten on his own downfall." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE WINTER IN THE TERRITORY — STATE LEGISLATURE. 

2Qth. — The men were early at their work this morning upon 
the little cabins in the forts. Stoves are to be put in them as soon 
as finished, and then soldiers will board in them as in times of 
war. The largest fort, which is at the foot of Massachusetts- 
street, commanding the way to the river, is of circular form, 
about five feet high, with a broad walk upon the top, perhaps 
four feet wide. It is about one hundred feet in diameter, and is 
built of earth and timbers. A sentinel is continually pacing the 
rounds upon the top. 

The general and other officers are at all times busy in the 
council-room. Scarcely sis weeks have passed since Gov. Shan- 
non's famous treaty ; he has now gone home, and the plan seems 
to be to do what is to be done in his absence, while Woodson is 
acting governor. He, having been instrumental in getting the 
Platte County Kifle Boys to come to the invasion of Lawrence, will 
not hesitate to do anything now which a Missouri mob asks 
of him. 

In the evening T. was asleep on the lounge, E. and I were 
sitting in the bright moonlight, when the loud booming of cannon, 
the shouts of men, and the barking of dogs, startled us. With 
the door open we could see no strange thing, but the noise con- 
tinued. It could not be Missourians, for they would not attack 
the town so early in the evening, or on such a bright night. 

T. awakened, and as we gave him no satisfactory answer to 
his question of " What 's that ? " he rose hastily, saying, " I believe 
those hounds have come." His pistol-belt was soon fastened on, 
and, as he left the door, he said, *' Good-by, if I don't see you 



178 KANSAS. 

again." He was hastening away, when I said to him, "You 
must let me know somehow what is doing." 

" Yes, I will send you word, if I cannot come myself." 
As through the still night-air these words were borne to me, the 
young, city-bred youth, whose heart beats warmly for freedom — 
freedom for all, was far down the hill-side. Home friends were 
continually writing him, " Why don't you leave that God-forsaken 
country, and come home ? " With the earliest settlers he em- 
barked in the holy cause of saving Kansas to freedom, and with 
those principles deeply implanted in his nature, in the full vigor 
and strength of early manhood, with hope mounting high, he has 
buckled on the armor of a righteous self-defence, and with the 
watchword of victory he is ever ready for active service. I 
smile often at his enthusiasm of manner as he says, " I used often 
to go to the theatre at home, life was so dull ; but here we have 
a new scene in the drama every day." I sympathize in the feel- 
ing, and have half a mind that all of us, living where we actually 
realize the truth, " Ye know not what a day may bring forth," 
would find New England paths dull and tame. Like him, there 
are many other young men, who, with unchecked aspirations and 
unblasted hopes, have in the trials of the hour put on the sober- 
ness, the prudence of life at its noon. Side by side with furrowed 
brows, and dark locks silvered o'er by time's fingers, they have 
prepared for the onset. Our people have grown strong in them- 
selves under difficulties. Young men of education and talent, who 
sought their home here, have put forth new powers. Stripped of 
all the artificial accompaniment of old towns, driven by the cir- 
cumstances of the times to exertions almost superhuman, the hap- 
py brightening up of unused faculties, and the quickening of 
relaxed energies, have followed ; whereas, amid the hum-drum 
paths of the old homes, surrounded by their gloss, gilding, and 
efi"eminacy, they would have passed along life's even ways, attain- 
ing only middling ranks in their professions. 

The women, too, of Kansas have shared in this quickening of 
the perceptive and reflective faculties — the efiect of their sur- 
roundings. Some, who would have floated gayly down life's smooth- 
er tides, amid the glitter, the false show of society, bound dowp 



WINTER IN THE TERRITORY — STATE LEGISLATURE. 179 

by an iron rule to King Custom's absurd ways, and would havo 
asked not tlie great questions of life, of its import, of its destiny, 
have learned that " life is real, life is earnest." In the simplicity 
of nature, in a new country, there is a mutual dependence between 
all, which is not realized at home, and the very needs of humanity 
demand that one should live, not for self, but out of self, and in 
realizing the beauty of the poem, 

" We live in deeds, not years, 

In tliouglits, not breatlis, in feelings. 
Not in figures on a dial. He lives most 
Who thinks most — feels the noblest — acts the best." 

With a constant use of faculties and sympathies, the useless 
ornament of a city drawing-room becomes the strong, the active, 
earnest woman. 

The hours were passing, the noise down street had ceased, and 
T. returned. He laughed as he said " No Missourians yet. The 
company have returned from Easton, and the boys were giving them 
a salute." He said, moreover, that they had speeches, and went 
through certain military manoeuvres, and finished off with a sup- 
per prepared for them. They encountered no difficulties by the 
way ; the enemy having heard of their proposed visit, fled to Mis- 
souri, leaving a clear field. One of the men, who has been threat- 
ened very grievously by them, they found so strongly barricaded 
in his house, that the enemy could never have taken him. His 
wife and six sons compose the family. The old lady has all the 
fire, the spirit of a Spartan mother. 

Jan. Ilth, — Still another snow. No security from the mur- 
derous midnight assassin can be more sure than the heavily drifting 
snows which cover the whole country. Plans of a guerilla war- 
fare had been laid through the whole border. The murder of 
Brown and the invasion at Easton were the forerunners of intended 
attacks upon the whole territory. The leaders of the free-state 
party being destroyed, they calculated upon an easy victory over 
the remainder. A letter of Atchison, written just before the mur- 
der of Brown, reveals the plan. The following are a few extracts 
from it . 



180 KANSAS. 

* * * * u y^Q are in a constant state of excitement here 
( Platte citj). The ' border ruffians ' have access to my room day 
and night. The very air is full of rumors. We wish to keep 
ourselves right before the world, and we are provoked and aggra- 
vated beyond sufferance. Our persons and property are not for a 
moment safe ; and yet we are forbid, by the respect we owe our 
friends elsewhere, by respect for the cause in which we are engaged, 
to forbear. This state of things cannot last. You are authorized 
to publish the whole or a part of what I have written ; but if 
Georgia intends to do anything, or can do anything for us, let it 
be done speedily ! 

" Let your young men come forth to Missouri and Kansas. Let 
them come well armed, with money enough to support them for 
twelve months, and determined to see this thing out ! One hun- 
dred true men will be an acquisition. The more the better. I do 
not see how we are to avoid civil war ; come it will. Twelve 
months will not elapse before war — civil war of the fiercest kind — 
will be upon us. We are arming and j)reparing for it. Indeed, 
we of the border counties are prepared. We must have the sup- 
port of the South. We are fighting the battles of the South. Our 
institutions are at stake. You far southern men are now out of 
the nave of the war, but, if we fail, it will reach your own doors, 
perhaps your hearths. We want men, armed men. We want 
money — not for ourselves, but to support our friends who may 
come from a distance. I have now in this house two gallant young 
men from Charleston, S. C. They are citizens of Kansas, and will 
remain so until her destiny is fixed. 

" Let your young men come on in squads as fast as they can be 
raised, well armed. We want none but true men. Yours truly, 

"D. R. Atchison. 

" P. S. — I would not be astonished if this day laid the ground- 
work for a guerilla war in Kansas. I have heard of rumors of 
strife and battle at Leavenworth, seven miles from this place, but 
the ice is running in the Missouri river, and I have nothing defi- 
nite. I was a peace-maker in the difficulty lately settled by Gov. 
Shannon. I counselled the ' ruffians ' to forbearance, but I will 
never again counsel peace. D. R, A." 



WINTER IN THE TERRITOIIY — STATE LEGISLATURE.. 181 

It is Sunday to-day. We hear no pleasant sound of church-going 
bell, but, instead, the pounding on the little cabins in the forts. 
Th3 hotel is again turned into barracks, and through the driving 
snow we see the sentinel at his post. Rough times our men see. 
Strong hearts and brave hands have come in to strengthen the 
town, leaving, in the rude cabins at home, wife and little ones with- 
out protector. The officers in the council-room sleep on the floor, 
or rude settees, when their tired energies must have some respite. 
Oui' people have great faith, great hope ; nothing but these could 
keep them so brave, so full of courage, when dangers lurk around. 

A gentleman just returned from a town south, some miles, said, 
" I have been in many cabins where there was no floor, and the 
snow came in at every crevice, and the cold was intense, yet I have 
seen a wonderful cheerfulness everywhere." They endure present 
sufiering, and forego present comforts, in hope of an hour when 
the battlements of freedom shall be high and strong, and out of 
the rich and fertile earth shall arise pleasant homes, at the bidding 
of free labor. Their faith is more potent than that of the children 
of the wilderness, who looked to the brazen serpent for healing. 

Some gentlemen were in yesterday from a neighboring settlement 
which has been threatened by Missourians. Signals are agreed 
upon, so that, should an attack be made there or here, mutual and 
speedy assistance might be rendered. 

Pistols lie around the room loaded, and rifles are standing in 
safe places. How strange to our eastern friends would seem this 
familiarity with fire-arms, and stranger yet the necessity of carry- 
ing them to our sleeping apartments, and carefully watching them 
lest any dampness cause them to corrode ! 

The last thought of our waking hours is now the possibility that 
ere the morning's gray light the fiendish yells of the brutal assas- 
sins may be heard at our own doors, crying for blood. But we 
sleep with the same quietude as in dear old New England homes, 
where safety was the rule, and crime was met by swift-footed jus- 
tice. Even this sense of insecurity is not without its use, for, with 
the early waking, comes a deep sense of thankfulness for another 
night safely passed, our home and friends still spared. 

Feb. lOtk — Still cold. How the weather prophets have all 
16 



1 82. KANSAS. 

spoken falsely ! The Indians and traders, who have lived many 
years in the country, have never seen a winter like this. Many 
people have frozen their feet, so that for weeks they have been 
unable to walk. The general hilarity of the young people has not, 
however, been prevented by it. Sicoxie 's dwelling has been open 
to visitors from Lawrence, and an occasional party, of a winter's 
evening, has shared the hospitalities of his house. 

The Delawares arc daily in our streets, and, with their gay dress, 
half-civilized, retaining always the Indian blanket, add a pleasant 
variety. Other tribes, less civilized, driven by the cold to winter 
near a settlement, have pitched their tents on the further bank of 
the Kansas. They also buy their provisions here, and pack them 
on ponies in bags. The poor little human, too, is encased in a red 
flannel bag, and carried on the back of the mothers. 

People are now getting out ice for the next summer's heat. 
Several hundred tons are already cut. Those who work at it 
look oddly with their dress, half Indian, adopting blankets, leggins, 
and moccasins, as very conducive to comfort, while gloves, mittens 
and neck comforters, are the relics of a former civilization. As 
the party starts off, they might be mistaken for voyagers to the 
polar regions. 

There was a wedding, yesterday, of rather novel character. 
Early in the autumn a man of some forty-five years of age came 
to Lawrence. A few more weeks passed, and sickness came to 
him, then death. He left a widow, over whose head scarcely 
eighteen summers had flown, to whom he was married just before 
coming here. Yesterday a second marriage was contracted. How 
full of change is life, and how in such a case as this the affairs of 
life jostle each other ! 

T. came up from town this afternoon saying, " Lawrence is to 
be attacked on the morrow ! " The foundation of this present 
rumor rests upon the conversation of a pro-slavery resident near 
Lawrence, and a stranger, which was overheard by one of our citi- 
zens. T. brought up quite a quantity of lead, and busied himself 
a while running bullets. 

We are much amused by the eastern newspaper accounts of the 
Kansas war, especially the part taken in it by the ladies. One 



WINTER IN THE TERRITORY — STATE LEGISLATURE. 183 

would suppose, from reading these, that all the women had given 
up all the duties of life usually assigned them, and armed with 
rifles and revolvers, with bravado and threats, were ready at all 
times to resent injuries by an appeal to the former. Whereas, with 
the exception of a dozen ladies, more or less, who have busied 
themselves in making cartridges, most of us have had sufficient 
employment in the accumulated duties of our own households, in 
preparing for an unwonted number of guests. Some, far removed 
in the country, have manifested their sympathies by busily engag- 
ing in the baking of bread for the soldiers. 

Lawrence and vicinity, numbering some fifteen hundred inhabit- 
ants, boasts many fair ladies ; more who combine the advantages 
of personal beauty with intellectual merit, than in any place 
I ever lived. Our friends east need have no fears that in this 
" roughing it," not only with the necessary inconveniences, and 
inelegancies, of a new country, but with the tyrannous acts of a 
vile administration's tools, that they have lost any of the instinct- 
ive gentleness or modesty of woman. Firmness and a purer love 
of justice have been the gain of many. The acts of one woman 
here have probably given rise to the false impression which has 
gone over the country. Sheriff Jones made the arrest of a resident 
of Lawrence, after a previous unsuccessful attempt, Mrs. B. threat- 
ening to shoot the sheriff if he attempted to arrest her husband, 
and with pistols cocked gave sufficient proof of her sincerity in 
this determination ; enough certainly to satisfy the sheriff, who 
was effectually cowed, and, amid the laugh of the by-standers, 
turned away muttering, he " had rather face an army of men than 
one furious woman." During the war, too, she had evinced her 
boldness on several occasions. 

Statements of this kind have, probably, in the minds of many, 
given- a wrong coloring to the actual character of the womanly 
element here ; when, on coming, they might expect to meet a real 
Amazon, or Joan of Arc, they would be disappointed to see still 
uppermost the native refinement, sensibility, and modest dignity 
of a true woman. 

22c?. — No attack yet made upon us. In spite of all the talk, 
and all the marshalling of armed men in the border towns, we 



184 KANSAS. 

awake each morning, with wonder, to say we " still live." We 
might, however, have lived in greater security, had the mighty 
genius, who made these words memorable in his last hour, been 
ever true to the instincts of his great nature ; had he in his 
declining days spoken honest words for freedom, as in his life's 
morning, or in its noon of splendor. " Lawrence is " not " in 
ashes," and her citizens still go unhung, notwithstanding the efforts 
of government officials to the contrary. 

The following are the exact copies of letters from Gov. Shan- 
non to the murderer of Barber, Gen. George W. Clarke, Indian 
Agent, and will show the direction of his efforts : 

" Executive Office, ^ 

Shawnee Mission, K. T., Jan. 4, 1856. > 

" My dear Sir : Your two last favors are received ; and I 
regret exceedingly to hear of your unpleasant situation. I hope 
things will grow better. The evidence you speak of must satisfy 
every one that you did not kill Barber. This difficulty out of 
the way, I hope you will have nothing t.o fear. I think that all 
organizations to take the law into the hands of self-constituted 
judges or conservatives of the peace will only lead to bad conse- 
quences. The other party will do the same by the way of retal- 
iation, and no one will know when he is safe. I am glad to learn 
that you discourage all such movements. 

" I will leave in the morning for Washington city, stopping 
some days at home on my way. I shall urge on the President the 
policy of stationing a company of United States troops in Le- 
compton, or such other place in that region as you may all think 
bast. I shall also urge on him the policy of quietly stationing a 
company at Topeka about the middle of February next. The 
free-state government, you know, is to be inaugurated on the 4th 
of March, and .the Legislature at that time will commence its 
session. The President has the power to station the troops at any 
place he sees proper, and there will be no necessity of his saying 
for what purpose he stations a company at Topeka. It will be 
looked upon by the free-state men as a significant sign, and may 
induce them to pause in their mad career of folly and treason. 



WINTER IN THE TERRITOEY — STATE LEGISLATURE. 185 

" I would be glad if you would write to your friends in Con- 
gress, and get them to back me up in what I may seek to accom- 
plish for the territory. Moreover, I desire to see and talk with 
the leading men of the South, in relation to matters in this terri- 
tory. I wish to post them upon the real state of things out here, 
and what the South must do the coming year, or lose all dominion 
in a few years in the affairs of the republic. 

" Write to me frequently at Washington city, to the care of 

Gen. Whitfield. Post me at least once or twice a week as to all 

that is going on out here. I shall feel great solicitude as to the 

state of things in Kansas while I am gone. 

" Yours with great respect, 

" Wilson Shannon. 
" George W. Clark, Esq." 

The other brief epistle was filed *' Gov. Shannon, Dec. 3, 1855. 
Advice to join the army with public funds." It is as follows : 

'* Executive Office, •i 

Shawnee Mission, K. T., Dec, 3, 1855. > 

" My dear Sir : I think you had better join the command of 

Col. Childs or Gen. Richardson with your money. It is unsafe 

to i:?main at your house with so large an amount of money. 

" Yours, etc., 

"Wilson Shannon. 
" Major Clark." 

The President, with the most abject servility to the slave power, 
has issued his anathemas against us. So base a document as his 
special message never before emanated from the White House. 
Has he read all history aright to suppose such bondage as this 
will not break its own chain? He talks of " treason." Treason 
against what? Not the United States surely, as, with earnestnesc 
stating our manifold and outrageous wrongs, wo ask to be ad- 
mitted into the sisterhood of states. Himself imbecile as the 
head of the government, he has bowed himself to the trappings 
of office. Stupid with the lust of power, and paving his way 
16* 



186 KANSAS. 

with the blood, the tears, the woes of Kansas, he has answered 
the question, " For what will a man sell his own soul ? " South- 
ern votes. Traitor to the mother who bore him, to his native 
state, to his country, and his God, when this great and mighty 
people shall arise from the blindness of their unparalleled pros- 
perity, and break the bands of evil as tender withes, then shall he, 
calling upon the mountains even of his own state, find no place 
deep enough, no covert broad enough, to hide his shame ; but in 
the annals of our country's history will this dark page be written, 
and he, the chosen guardian of the people's rights, shall wear the 
crowning infamy. It shall remain as a beacon light, as a warn- 
ing to all seeking office, like the flaming sword guarding the 
entrance to Eden, that they sell not their honor, their principles, 
their very souls even. "So fallen, so lost!" the pitying heart 
cries. 

This evening of the 22d of February witnesses a gathering 
here in honor of our first President, " whom the nation delights 
to honor." In strange contrast will his integrity, his uprightness, 
and his abiding hold upon the people's love, go down to posterity 
with the hollow-hearted truckling, the treachery, the imbecility, 
of the present incumbent of the presidential chair. The truth is 
again clearly maintained that justice sways the world. 

Co. A. gave the party to-night, and many were there to partake 
of their hospitality, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather. 
Co. A. are our strong defenders. At a moment's warning they 
are ready for any perils which endanger us. Much praise is due 
them for their unwavering courage and steadfast zeal when the 
rays of hope in other quarters have been few and flickering. They 
have taken to themselves the name of " Stubs," not particularly 
euphonious, but suggestive of their stature. A song has also 
been prepared by some of them, which they sang to-night, giving 
zest to the other amusements of the evening. It is in ballad 
style, sung as a solo by one fine voice, while all join in the chorus. 

2^th. — How genial the air is to-day ! The icy bands upon 
the river have fairly given way, and the fast dissolving snows say 
loudly that spring is here. The golden haze of last evening, 
through which the setting sunbeams lingered and floated, spread- 



WINTEK IN THE TEKRITORY — STATE LEGISLATURE. 187 

ing a halo of singular loveliness over this unrivalled landscape, 
gave a promise of warmer days. " The days of the singing-birds 
have come." With the life-giving days of spring, how could we 
hope for peace and tranquillity ! Yet there is no just ground for 
such hope. Companies of mounted riflemen have been forming 
along the border ; and a late " Independence Despatch " states 
that the militia of the border counties in Missouri are to rendez- 
vous at Fort Scott, in this territory, on the 29th of February. 
Atchison also, a few days since, in his speech at Platte city, 
called upon his friends to " hold themselves in readiness against 
the 4th of March," as then there would be a new invasion of the 
territory." The " six weeks," which Jones pledged upon his 
honor should be free from invasion, are nearly over. A gentle- 
man of Easton has received a threatening letter from his pro- 
slavery neighbors, warning him to leave. Everything looks 
threatening. 

March Ath. — The doctor, with many more from Lawrence, left 
for Topeka yesterday, as the Legislature meets to-day. Lawrence 
is really deserted. Judge Elmore has, in conversation with the 
leaders of the free-state party, expressed strong desires that the 
members should not take the oath of office, as such an act would 
be considered treasonable, and they would be immediately ar- 
rested. Letters written from Washington also say that it is the 
design of the President to carry this matter thus far. By failing 
to take the oath of office, the present free-state constitution would 
be of no account. A gentleman has just been in, who reports a 
member of the Legislature arrived an hour since from Washing- 
ton. He says the United States Marshal is on his way to Topeka, 
to arrest all who take the oath of office. He wishes to be ar- 
rested with the others, and will leave for Topeka this evening. 

A strange farce this, of arresting freemen for no sin but a 
desire to maintain their rights as freemen, and for doing what 
California and Michigan have done before us. No iron rule 
bound them down like the hateful tyranny crushing Kansas. 

Were it not for these continual attempts on the part of govern- 
ment to oppress us, Kansas would be peopled with a rapidity 
unprecedented in the settlement of any state. Her genial climate 



188 KANSAS. 

and rich soil offers attractions, while the class of people emigrat- 
iDg here afford the inducements of society, as intelligent and 
refined as any in the states. 

Four religious societies have already been formed in Lawrence, 
and churches will this summer be erected. With the revivins; of 
business this spring, a circulating library has been opened, where 
its members can find standard works, new books and publications, 
as soon as issued. There is also a bookstore, where the busy 
reader can suit his taste. The parish library connected with the 
Unitarian Church is large and valuable, and, when the room is 
ready for is reception, will form a valuable acquisition. With 
othei settlements there have been similar organizations, and means 
for improvement. 

Beside Lawrence there are six other settlements, mostly eastern. 
Osawattomie, at the junction of the Potawattomie and Meradizine, 
which at that point takes the name of the Osage, is most pleas- 
antly located. It derives its name from a fanciful clipping and 
mingling together of the words, Potawattomie and Osage. A 
pleasing variety of prairie and woodland marks the spot. Though 
the first settlement was made only a year since, with its large mill 
and enterprising people it bids fair to be a prominent point in 
the territory. 

Hampden is still farther south, and, notwithstanding the sick- 
ness which came so severely among them last year, its surpassing 
richness of soil and heavy tember, as well as its central position 
in the southern part of the territory, will induce many to locate in 
the region. 

Topeka, the third town in size, is situated twenty-five miles 
above Lawrence, on the Kansas. The principal part of the town 
is about a fourth of a mile from the river, on the high prairie, 
which slopes gently to the shore. Webster Peak rises some four 
miles in the distance south, while the lands of the Potawattomie 
are but five miles away. The first settlement was made in Decem- 
ber of 1854, by some members of the fifth party. When the spring 
opened emigration poured in there. Constitution Hall, a large 
hotel, several stores, and dwelling-houses of wood, brick and stone. 



WINTER IN THE TERRITORY — STATE LEGISLATURE. 189 

show clearly their Yankee origin, and that in coming to the West 
they had not forgotten thrift and enterprise. 

Wabousa is forty miles above Topeka, also on the Kansas river, 
while Mill Creek flows into it at this point. This location, which 
has many admirers, both for its surroundings of hill and plain, 
and richness of soil, was selected as a town site in the fall of 
1854, by the fourth party, which came from New England. (The 
New Haven Company have since located there.) 

Manhattan, at the junction of the Big Blue and Kansas, is 
seventy-five miles west of Lawrence, and eighteen from Fort Biley. 
It was also decided upon as a good location for a town by a 
portion of the fourth New England party. 

Their numbers were strengthened in the spring of 1855 by the 
company from Providence, and afterwards by a company from 
Cincinnati, called the Manhattan Company. It has a very fine loca- 
tion upon the high prairie, with a bold prominence of singular beauty 
near by, upon whose sides dwarf cedars grow. Finely rolling 
prairies extend back of the town about four miles, where high 
bluffs surround all like a strong fortress. Being near the fort, 
and in the midst of a rich farming country, the productiveness 
of the soil for years must repay in large measure all labor be- 
stowed upon it. A friend, who located not many miles from Man- 
hattan in the spring, and cultivated a few acres, in the fall found 
himself the possessor of one thousand dollars more than when he 
came. He sold at the fort whatever he raised, at large prices. 
As all supplies for the fort at present are brought from Missouri, 
near one hundred and fifty miles, it must furnish a market for the 
fruits of the earth, could they be raised near by. 

Council city, about forty miles south-west of Lawrence, and a 
few miles from the Sante Fe road, under the auspices of the New 
York Settlement Co., is situated upon the head waters of the 
Osage. A pleasant population are gathered there upon the half- 
mile claims. A lady of intelligence, residing there a few months, 
told me she had become very much attached to the people, and on 
no account would return to her old home, near New York city. 
Mills are being erected, and when they are in operation, as at the 
other settlements, nothing but quiet is needed for it and them to 



190 



KANSAS. 



increase in population, in intelligence ani wealth. Let Peace 
spread her broad wings over us, and no one can estimate the 
human tide sweeping westward which will be turned into these 
channels. 

\%th. — The following are the names of state officers and 
members of Senate and House, elected under the State Con- 
stitution : — 



C. Robinson, Gov. 

W. Y. Roberts, Lt. Gov. 

S. N. Latta, ; ^ 

^^•^- Conway, ^i^; 

M. Hunt, \ ^ 

J. A. Wakefield, Treasurer. 



P. C. Schuyler, Secretary. 
Gr. A. Cutter, Auditor. 
E. M. Thurston, Ue'p. of Sp. Ct. 
S. B. Floyd, Clerk " " 

J. Speer, State Printer. 



Memhers of Se7iate. 



Adams, 


J. C. Green, 


S. B. McKenzie, 


J. M. Cole, 


B. Harding, 


B. W. Miller, 


J. Curtis, 


G. S. Hillyer, 


J. H. Pillsbury, 


J. Daily, 


H. M. Hook, 


G. R. Rhaum, 


Dunn, 


J. M. Irvin, 


T. G. Thornton, 


L. Fish, 


D. E. Jones, 


W. W. Updegraff. 


P. Fuller, 


Rep-esentatives. 




S. N. Hartwell, 


David Rees, 


D. Toothman, 


J. B. Abbott, 


D. W. Cannon, 


J. D. Adams, 


John Hutchinson, 


Isaac Landers, 


Abraham Barre, 


H. F. Saunders, 


J. M. Arthur, 


Wm. McClure, 


James Blood, 


Thos. Bowen, 


T. W. Piatt, 


C. Hornsby, 


H. B. Standiford, 


Richard Murphy, 


E. B. Purdam, 


H. H. Williams, 


J. B. Wetson, 


J. McGree, 


J. Brown, Jr., 


Rees Furby, 


M. C. Dickey, 


Isaac B. Higgins, 


Wm. Hicks, 


W. R. Frost, 


H. W. Tabor, 


Wm. B. Wade 


W. A. Simmerwell, 


Henry Todd, 


B. H. Brock, 


S. MeWhinney, 


T. J. Addis, 


B. R. Martin, 


S. T. Shores, 


A. B. Marshal, 


A. Jameson, 


S. R. Baldwin, 


J. Hornby, 


John Landis, 



WINTER IN THE TERRITORY — STATE LEGISLATURE. 191 

Wm. Bayliss, W. T. Burnett, R. P. Brown, 

A. D. Jones, J. K. Edsaui, F. A. Minard, 

E. R. Zimmerman, S. Sparks, G. Groslin, 

J. W. Stevens, L. P. Patty, A. Fisher, 

Wm. Crosby, S. J. Campbell, Isaac Cady. 

The election for these offices was holden on the 15th January ; 
on the same day M. "W. Delahay was chosen representative to 
Congress. 

The Legislature was organized on the 4th, and the state officers 
took the oath of office. Everything was quiet at Topeka. No 
attempts were made to arrest any one, although Sheriff Jones and 
a deputy marshal were there to witness the inaugural ceremonies 
of the new state government. "With the exception of the fears 
of one of the members, harshly wrought upon by some lovers of 
mischief, there was nothing exciting. Yesterday, a friend arrived 
from the East. He came up from Kansas city in company with 
some of the office-holders under government. They were partic- 
ularly anxious that the free-state government should not be 
organized. He also came up just in the wake of Gov. Shannon. He 
is, according to his report, highly spoken of by all the bar-tenders 
and others on the way, and had a grand reception at Lexington — 
which signifies, without any adornings of word or sentiment, " one 
big drunk." 

Ptumors came in to-night that a box of Sharpe's rifles, con- 
signed to the territory, have been taken off the boat at Lexington 
and placed in the warehouse to await Governor Shannon's orders. 
Rumors fly as fast as autumn leaves, and we scarcely know what 
to believe. If, however, they have taken them, they will be useless 
to them as the slides are understood to be in another place, and it 
will puzzle them quite as much to use a rifle open at both ends as 
it did the one they threw away in December as useless, because 
there was no ramrod. 

Slst. — The last of March, and still all quiet. The grass is 
growing everywhere, and the tiny flower-bells sway gently in every 
breeze. In many places they spring up without leaves, and in the 
dusty roads. 



192 KANSAS. 

Doctor left on the 24tli for Washington, at noon, not thinking 
of going only an hour or two before. The 26th witnessed the 
laying of the corner-stone of the Unitarian church with impres- 
sive exercises. Ministers of different denominations took part in 
the service. Many people, of various beliefs, were there, as the 
first church was planted in the wilderness, and a common interest 
was pervading all classes. Beneath the corner-stone were laid 
copies of several papers in the territory, a sketch of Lawrence, 
and other articles of interest. 

Gov. Shannon has returned to Lecompton, and Mr. Hoyt, in 
whose charge were the rifles, has waited on him in reference to 
their being restored. The poor governor is in a dilemma, neither 
horn of which he thinks quite safe. Shall he please border ruf- 
fians, or restore property to its rightful owners ? Fear weighs 
down the scale on the border ruffian side, and the sage decision is, 
the guns must remain in Lexington. 

The little boy, who had so much water to carry, errands to do, 
and so many times has come into the house nearly frozen, is dead. 
He was delirious a few hours and died. Startling as the intelli- 
gence was to us, in the dreary shadows of twilight, not having 
heard of his illness, and only three evenings since he had made us 
a longer call than usual, there was mingled a sense of relief 
There was a broken-spiritedness about the boy which was difficult 
to account for and is not natural to childhood. 

Many houses are going up, and, every time we drive down, some 
new building or fence closes up the old travelled road. Men are 
digging at the quarries above us, and teams continually going up 
and down both sides of the house for buildings in town, and foi 
the church half down the hill. We had recently had a house 
moved quarter of a mile to join our premises. It will be most 
conducive to our comfort, and that of our frequent lodgers. 

Our house is at last completed, amid all the confusion of lath- 
ers, plasterers, paperers, and varnishers, with company all of the 
time, spending the day, the week, or longer. When the noise has 
been too unendurable, the horses and carriage have been put in 
requisition, and a ride over the beautiful prairies been enjoyed by 
our guests. 



WINTER IN THE TERmTORY — STATE LEGISLATURE. 193 

The house is entirely of black walnut ; the finish, doors, win- 
dow-casings, and mantels, of the same, all nicely polished. The 
paper of white satin, with a neat flower, in one room, while pretty 
wood-colors, in rosebuds and leaves, cover other walls, and give the 
whole a pleasing contrast. The furniture is mostly of the same 
wood, in pretty styles, while library, seraphine, pictures, which I 
prize both for their beauty and my long vested rights in them, with 
many other treasures of my girlhood, make this new home seem 
indeed like the old one, though so far transplanted. I would ex- 
change its simplicity for no place where art and splendor have sway, 
while possessor of such living beauty as spreads itself around us. 

In my drives of the last few weeks circumstances have brought 
me in contact with people of various mould, and I have been a 
learner of life by contrasts. The illness of a lady called me to 
the low door of her dwelling. It was built against a rock in a 
side hill, that forming one side. Logs and thatch completed the 
remaining sides and roof. The inside had the same rough aspect. 
Eude tables, of home-made manufacture, and three-legged stools, 
with one rocking-chair, completed the furniture. Several little 
children, neatly though poorly dressed, clung around the sad- 
looking mother, upon whose brow care had furrowed deep lines ; 
but whose manner and appearance betokened better days than 
these in the past. Although ill, she was performing some domes- 
tic drudgery. She had friends east who would feel sadly did they 
know the circumstances which surrounded her here. The trials 
of the Kansas home had been many, yet she was still hopeful. 
Assuring her that anything we could do for her comfort should be 
gladly done, and thinking what a sad, thorny way the life-path 
is to many, we bade her " good-by." 

Another day our fleet horses took our guests and us \o see a 
person whose acquaintance was formed on the river, who was now 
boarding about six miles from Lawrence. The carriage halted in 
front of a large cabin, or two cabins rather, the space which is 
usually left open between them being made into *a broad hall. G. 
said, " This is Judge W.'s." The lady whom we came to see 
opened the door before we reached it, being glad to see a familiar 
face. She was very pretty and intelligent, and the mother's heart 
17 



194 KANSAS. 

could be seen in the soul-full eye as she caressed the little boy 
of a twelvemonth. Their home had been Wisconsin, while her 
husband was from the aristocratic old state of Virginia, and of 
gentlemanly, dignified bearing. 

This house is a home for travellers, and its capacious rooms 
were now full. Young mothers with their little children sat by 
the fire, and looked weary with their travels. Supper, too, was 
being prepared for the old judge, who came in from Lawrence, 
and with cheerful words, always so full of humor, greeted us as he 
distributed the letters he had brought from there. The beds were 
partitioned from this common sitting-room by long curtains. Bas- 
kets were hanging on poles over our heads, and bags of most ca- 
pacious size were suspended from the walls, while meat and other 
articles for cooking found a place in the room. Judge "W. is from 
Iowa, and has been, since his first coming here, one of the standard- 
bearers in freedom's army. 

As we were returning, we met a very youthful lady and her 
husband, who have had some of the romance of life, and who are 
testing the sweets of not exactly love in a cottage, but love in a 
log-cabin, on the wide prairies. The lady was from a wealthy 
family in Cincinnati. Her friends opposed her in the choice of a 
husband, and while from home, at boarding-school, the marriage 
ceremony was performed, the young husband leaving the same day 
for Kansas. Some months after, when she had made known to 
her friends that she was already married, she also came. 

A gentleman from Wisconsin was here in the early part of the 
month. He came to examine the country, its inducements to set- 
tlers, with reference to the sending out of a large company from 
Wisconsin. As he wished to meet the people of Lawrence, a 
reception had been proposed. The last afternoon of his visit had 
arrived, and the gentlemen in whose hands the arrangements 
had been left, declared themselves unable to accomplish anything 
on so short notice. Two of our ladies then took the matter in 
charge, and the evening found some one hundred persons assembled 
in a large hall, with refreshments of cake, nuts, fruit, and lemon- 
ade, provided. 

A few days after, the New Haven company arrived. They 



WINTER IN THE TERRITORY — STATE LEGISLATURE. 195 

must have a welcome and the right hand of fellowship extended 
to them by our people. The hall was filled to its utmost capacit}^, 
and as our people briefly recounted the history of their stay here, 
their dangers and perils, they ofiered to the newly-arrived people 
the blessings of the civilization which a year and a half has 
wrought ; while they ofi"er, with the shield of an unwasted hope, 
and the buckler of unwearied energies, to stand by us in hours 
when evil shall threaten our liberties. Pleasantly thus the hours 
passed away, and the " Stubs " were loudly called for to close the 
assembly with their song. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

COMMITTEE OF INVESTIGATION 
SHOT. 

The second month of spring was quickly passing away, and 
quiet reigned — a quiet which seemed almost fearful from the 
very stillness. Since the threats of arrest in the early part of 
March, the voice of Missouri had been mostly silent. Save the 
oaths and imprecations which still fall on the ear, on passing 
her citizens, and an occasional opening of boxes designed for the 
territory, at Kansas city, there has been no outrage, and the 
press is silent as to her plans. Notwithstanding the persevering 
efforts of Douglas, the champion of the slave power, and the no 
less zealous exertions of Missouri's representatives, who hesitated 
not to utter untruths, declaring that no one came from Missouri 
to vote, — one of them, at least, being present at the election, — a 
committee has been appointed to investigate the wrongs of which 
Kansas has complained to Congress. We, as well as our eastern 
friends, anticipated that quiet would continue while the investi- 
gation was entered into ; that, from motives of policy alone, the 
enemy would hide in their lair, and attempt to gain the favor of 
the committee by a present show of fairness. Emigration was 
again pouring into the territory; a company of one hundred, from 
Ohio, had just arrived, while the camp-fires at evening, and the 
white-covered wagons of the western emigrant, dotting the high- 
ways, told of a general desire to make one's self a home in Kan- 
sas. 

About the 17th of April the commissioners arrived. The hotel, 
which we had long waited for, was nearly finished, and rooms for 



COMMITTEE OE INVESTIGATION, ETC. 197 

their accommodation were put in order by our people, before the 
proprietor of the hotel could get his furniture up from Kansas 
city. The commissioners went to Lccompton, and spent two or 
three days in copying the records of the elections from official 
books kept there. 

On the 19th, Sheriff Jones, who has from the first seemed to 
be the apple of discord among us, his presence at once making 
tumult of quiet, again appeared in our midst, and attempted to 
arrest S. N. Wood, just returned from Ohio, after a winter's 
sojourn. He said to Wood, " You are ray prisoner." 

" By what authority? " was the very natural reply. 

" As Sheriff of Douglas County." 

*' I do not recognize such authority," said Wood, adding, how- 
ever, that he would go with him if he would allow him to go to 
his house, only a few steps distant, first. 

This the sheriff refused, and Wood declared, " Then I '11 not go 
with you at all ! " and very coolly walked away. 

Jones walked away also, minus a pistol, which had passed from 
his pocket. The whole affair only lasted two or three minutes. 

The next day Jones came in town again to disturb the Sabbath's 
quiet, and arrest somebody. He was accompanied by four men 
from Lecompton, and he called upon a number of our citizens 
standing by to act as a posse, in assisting in the arrest of Wood. 
These citizens were looking on, simply, and it was an established 
fact, whenever Jones was seen in the streets of Lawrence, that 
something rich would happen, and, involuntarily, almost, they 
gathered around to see. 

Jones looked for Wood in his house; but he was not there. 
Seeing T., another of the Branson rescuers standing by, and who 
had made the attempt to carry his own case to the Supreme Court, 
but had never been able to get a hearing at Lecompton, Jones 
pounced upon him. He took hold of him so fiercely, T. thought 
it was his intention to knock him down ; so, forgetting his non- 
resistance, he struck Jones, whereupon the bold sheriff, with his 
comrades, left for Lecompton, muttering, however, "he would 
bring in the troops, and the arrests should be made. He had now 
17* 



198 KANSAS. 

some forty names on his paper, against whom warrants should be 
served." 

The following letter, written by Jones to Marshal Donaldson, 
shows that the attempt to arrest Wood was made without a 
shadow even of territorial law : 

" Lecompton, April 20, 1856. 
"Major I. B. Donaldson, — My dear Sir: Samuel N. Wood 
is now in Lawrence, and I wish you to send me the writ against 
him. I arrested him on yesterday, and he was rescued from my 
hands by a mob. The governor has called upon Col. Sumner for 
a company to assist me in the execution of the laws. I will have 
writs gotten out against Kobinson, and some tAventy others. 

" In haste, Yr obs. 

" S. J. Jones." 

The committee of investigation finished their work at Lecomp- 
ton on Tuesday, the 22d, and returned to Lawrence the afternoon 
of that day. This first efibrt of theirs, showing clearly that the 
work of investigation would be carried on systematically, struck 
terror into the heart of the wrong-doers. That all their labors 
hitherto might not be foiled at one blow, they felt that a desperate 
effort must be made to break up the sittings of the committee, and 
the plan unfolded itself. 

Also, on the afternoon of the 22d, word came into Lawrence 
that a band of men were encamped in the timber across the river. 
Two messengers immediately went out from Lawrence to see if 
there was truth in the statement, and returned, not only to verify 
it, but the bloody character of the gang. One of our messen- 
gers was fired upon, and only escaped falling into their hands by 
quickly plunging into a ravine until they, in their search, had 
passed by. They were men from Lecompton and vicinity, and 
were stationed there to intercept any persons who should attempt 
to escape from the bogus sherifi". 

On AVednesday, 23d, the committee commenced examining wit- 
nesses in reference to the invasions. Dr. Stringfellow, Capt. 
Martin, of the Kickapoo Rangers, and others of like character, 



COMMITTEE OF INVESTIGATION, ETC 199 

were in town. Some twelve came with Gren. AVliitfield. In the 
afternoon of the 23d, the redoubtable sheriff, with authority vested 
in ten soldiers, under command of Lieut. Mcintosh, following, 
again came into Lawrence. Without the least resistance on the 
part of any, six men, not implicated in the rescue of Branson, but 
having arrested no one to place in Mr. Jones' custody, were taken 
prisoners. They were lodged in a small building on the street, 
under the guard of the dragoons, and the sheriff occupied the tent 
of the officers, instead of going to the Cincinnati House, as usual. 

In the evening the choir met at our house for a rehearsal. At 
about nine and a half o'clock T. came in. As the rest were sing- 
ing, and scarcely noticed his coming in, I said to him, " Why, 
where did you come fi'om ? I thought you were in a safer place 
than Lawrence for rescuers." 

He replied, " I have been out of town to-day; but I thought I 
would come over the hills to-night, and write a letter." 

So, quickly getting him stationery and a light, he went out into 
another room to write. There was laughing and jesting among 
the singers, as they left soon after ; a doubt arising whether they 
would all get to their homes safely, they having been on the street 
the day of the attempted arrest, and, as Jones had forty names, 
there was little reason to hope theirs were not in the list. 

Doctor carried two ladies to their homes, each two miles from 
ours, and a mile apart. Just after they had gone, two gentlemen 
came from town. One was a stranger to me, and the other was 
W. He too had been from town during the day, and had gone 
home for a night's rest, when he was aroused by the other gentle- 
man. They said " Good-evening," and walked in. W., espying 
T., who had finished his letter, and was about leaving for a safer 
residence than ours, said, "Well, T., our best friend is shot." 

" Who ? " was the question asked simultaneously by several 
voices ; and W.'s reply, in the same solemn manner, " Sheriff 
Jones," startled us. Not because for him we had any esteem, any 
respect ; but who was there in Lawrence that would take a broth- 
er's blood ? Unlike the Missourians, who shot down inoffensive 
people with no more compunctions than they would a wild part- 



200 KANSAS. 

ridge, they feel there is a sacredness in human life, and would not 
rashly assume the power of the avenger. 

The silence which momentarily followed was broken by the 
question, " Will he die ? " 

" They say he cannot recover." 

The gentleman waited until the doctor returned, and then went 
back to town. He at once recognized in it a plan to involve our 
people in difficulty. It was either to be made the occasion of a 
new invasion, or at least to break up the sittings of the committee. 

Jones, while sitting in the tent, the outline of his figure being 
clearly revealed by the light inside, was shot in the back. He fell 
to the ground, saying, " I am shot ! " Some little time passed 
away before any physician saw him. At length Dr. Stringfellow 
was sent for, and the sheriff was removed to the hotel, into one of 
the rooms so lately fitted up, at the door of which a soldier stood 
on guard. Some physicians of Lawrence examined him that night 
and in the morning. The wound was between the right shoulder 
and spine. Though constantly groaning, Jones was able to turn 
himself in bed. Notwithstanding Gen. Whitfield's express to 
Missouri the next morning, with the intelligence that Jones was in 
a dying condition, he was removed to Franklin in the afternoon of 
the same day, accompanied by Gen. Whitfield and the friends who 
came with him, with an escort of dragoons. Gen. Whitfield de- 
clared it was not safe to remain in Lawrence ; their lives were in 
peril ; and he attempted to persuade the commissioners also to 
remove, upon the plea that Lawrence was an unsafe place to hold 
their sessions ; that his witnesses could not come into town with- 
out risk of losing their lives. He did not hesitate to say, " The 
commission was at an end ; they might as well return to Wash- 
ington." The brave general stopped a few days at Franklin, then 
went to Lecompton, and finally returned to take his seat before the 
committee, positively asserting that " he did not leave Lawrence 
through fear." 

Early in the afternoon of the day Jones was shot, a party of 
troops, who had been out in the Indian country, passed through 
town, and, having crossed the river, camped on the other shore. 
After the shooting, Lieut. Mcintosh sent an express for them to 



ETC. 201 

return to Lawrence, whicli they did that night or the next morn- 
ing. 

The morning after the attack, our citizens called a meeting to 
take steps in regard to it. Speeches were made in reference to 
the whole matter, and the following resolutions, expressive of the 
sense of the meeting, were passed : 

" Resolved, That the attempt made in our town, last evening, 
upon the life of S. J. Jones, Esq., while claiming to act as the 
sherifi" of the county, was th-e isolated act of some malicious and 
evil-disposed individual, unexpected and unlocked for by our com- 
munity, and unsustained by any portion of them. 

" Resolved, That, in the opinion of this community, it was a 
cowardly and atrocious outrage upon Mr. Jones, and an insult and 
injury to the public sentiment and reputation of our town, and a 
crime deserving condign punishment. 

" Resolved, That notwithstanding the unpleasant relation which 
existed between Mr. Jones and our citizens, if the attack could 
have been foreseen, or considered at all probable, we would have 
neglected no means to prevent or defeat it. We deeply sympathize 
with the wounded man, and will afford him all the aid and comfort 
in our power. 

" Resolved, That we deeply regret that the perpetrator of this 
deed is unknown ; and, if known to us, we would unhesitatingly 
expose and denounce him as the criminal. 

" Resolved, That it is due to the reputation of our town, and 
loudly demanded by the deep and universal indignation which per- 
vades our community, that the guilty author should, if possible, 
be sought out and surrendered to justice. 

" Resolved, That a committee of 'five be appointed, whose duty 
it shall be to investigate the circumstances connected with this 
deplorable occurrence, and, if possible, to ferret out the guilty 
agent ; and pledge ourselves that, although not responsible as a 
community for this act of a depraved individual, we will use our 
best efforts to show to the world that we have no sympathy for 
crime in any shape, and are prepared to treat the perpetrators 



202 KANSAS. 

with that stern justice which shall not stop to inquire whether they 
are friends or foes." 



No sympathy was manifested for the cowardly act, and a com- 
mittee was appointed to ferret out the assassin. Before the six 
prisoners were taken to Lecompton, efforts were made to arrest 
others of our citizens, in which they failed. Sam Salters acted as 
deputy sheriff. Some laughable incidents occurred, in consequence 
of these efforts. 

This attempt to arrest our citizens for no crime but looking 
on, with hands in their pockets, when Jones calls upon them to 
assist him, — the person he wishes to arrest being missing, — is 
an outrage which arouses their indignation. They are not willing 
to be taken from their business, from their homes, to be impris- 
oned, or to recognize his authority in vexatious suits at law, by 
giving bail. Neither will they resist the United States govern- 
ment by an open resistance to the army and navy, which President 
Pierce says shall enforce these laws ; a course, however, which the 
territorial authorities have earnestly and anxiously desired they 
should take. The only way then left to escape from such arrests 
was to keep out of sight of the troops ; and this for several days 
was done most effectually. 

Two young men, who had been stopping out of town for a day 
or two, came in one morning, thinking not to leave again, and 
were just flattering themselves of their present safety from molest- 
ation, when they saw the troops, with the notorious deputy, com- 
ing towards them. They quickly left all, and struck into the ra- 
vine west of the town ; and, once in its friendly covert, they took 
different directions. The one whose course the troops followed, 
dropped his pistol as he ran, and, stopping to pick it up, he saw 
the deputy in advance of the troops, upon whom he was calling 
loudly to run. Mindful of the dignity of the United States uniform, 
the blue coats marched steadily on, not heeding his cry, and seeing 
the pistol again in the hand of the pursued, the sheriff seemed to 
regard the present as an opportune moment to take breath, and 
waited for them to come up. Whether the sight of the pistol may 
not have suggested such action, was but little doubtful. Be it as it 



ETC. 20$ 

may, sufficient time was given by the delay for our friend to make 
good his escape, and in the intricacies of the ravines find a safe 
retreat. 

The same day another of the fugitives was sitting on the side 
of the hill above us, and did not perceive the troops until they 
were just upon him. He immediately started for our house, the 
sheriff calling, " Stop, or I '11 shoot you ! " Quickening his pace, 
he replied, " Shoot then ! " and was soon at the house. As he 
passed through the back room, whose doors were opposite, he said, 
" I want to leave my rifle here, for I can't run with it." 

The troops were in sight ; there was only time for me to ask, 
" Will they take rifles if they see any here ? " and for him to 
reply, " Yes, the sheriff may order them to." 

As the dragoons came so far down the hill that the house ob- 
structed their vision of what was passing beyond, he slipped down 
the side hill north of us, and entered a little house, partly built, at 
the base. His wife, learning of his whereabouts, carried him his 
dinner, which he was leisurely enjoying, when the six prisoners, 
escorted by some eight or ten dragoons, passed by, on their way 
to Lecompton. 

As soon as he left the house, we saw the troops, with Salters at 
their head, were fast coming, and E. and I stowed away the rifles, 
— several being in the house, as the guard were again on their 
watch at night. I called to E., who was noting their progress then, 
and asked, " Are they really coming ? " 

* Yes, they have taken the road leading to the house." 

" Will I have time to change my dress ? " The question was 
prompted by a desire to appear in proper costume before such 
dignitaries. 

She replied, " No ; " but had scarcely pronounced the word, 
before she said, " They are not coming. Salters has turned his 
horse down the hill." Running to the window, there they were, — 
President Pierce's army of subjugation, — going into the prairies. 
Salters had concluded to postpone his call upon us until some 
other day. 

The next morning, before all of us had eaten breakfast, some 
who "had come in late, and spent the night, thought they could 



204 KANSAS. 

Venture down street thus early, and one t)f them had started down 
the hill. The others looking out, already saw the troops on the 
prairie, about a mile distant. A tap on the window, and a look 
in the direction to which a friendly hand pointed, was sufficient to 
bring the youth back. Hastily crowding into the pockets of the two 
cold meat, bread, cake, and apples, for their dinner, should they 
be where no dinner could be had, they started in an opposite 
direction from the one they had proposed earlier. By taking a 
circuitous route, they reached another house, where their welcome 
was always sure. 

Soon a gentleman came up on horseback. The movements of 
the troops could be seen so far from our house, that it was a good 
standing-point for observations. He had scarcely seated himself, 
before the dragoons, their sabres flashing in the sunlight, came 
prancing out of town, and took the road which led near his house. 
He rose hastily, saying, " I '11 call again some other day. I 
must go and tell the boys, now." 

Mounting his horse, he was soon dashing along at a wild rate. 
Horse and rider were down through the valley, and over the sum- 
mit of the hill, a half mile distant, as the dragoons came into 
sight around the brow of the hill north of us. The hills are in such 
a position that they did not notice the swift horseman, and as he 
rode up to his own door, more than a mile away, we knew that 
the fugitives were safe. 

We at all such times left our doors unlocked, so the guard could 
come in for luncheon, or a short nap, and often in the morning we 
found as many again had slept beneath the roof as we supposed 
there would be on retiring. 

The family of one of the men so savagely hunted for, removed 
from town to a little cabin a mile or two out. On coming home 
one night from a retreat still further in the country, about eleven 
o'clock, thinking to see his family for a short time, as he ap- 
proached the house he heard a horseman coming slowly, then a 
voice from the ravine said something to him, and they held a low 
conversation. His suspicions were at once aroused. Could they 
have learned where his family are, and were they looking for him ? 
are the quick suggestions of these circumstances, and, heeding 



ETC. 205 

the voice of prudence, he took another route, without going to 
his house, and came to ours. 

The night was dark, and very wet, the rainy season having 
fairly set in. I had left fire and light burning, and had just gone 
up stairs. Hearing the door open softly, I went down again, and 
so perfect was the disguise of this fiimiliar friend, that, without 
recognizing him, I said, " Good-evening; " and was only sure of 
his identity, though I took the extended hand, when he said, 
"You don't know me?" The life of this friend would not have 
been one moment safe had he fallen • into the hands of the foe. 
They swore vengeance upon him hourly, and it was decided that, 
as his life was precious, not only to his family and friends, but to 
the free-state cause, he risked too much by remaining here, 
and he must leave. He had had several narrow escapes ; at one 
time, driving near a house, and dismounting, while the enemy 
were in hot pursuit, he taking a footpath into a ravine close by, 
while a friend near put spurs to his horse, outstripped the enemy, 
and effectually misled them. 

The house of Mr. Speer had been repeatedly searched for him. 
Sam. Salters went again with some dragoons, a few days since, 
and entreated them that they would do the despicable work for 
him. They refused to do so, as it was beyond the province of 
their duties. So, striking around with a hammer, which he 
picked up, to show his valor, he at last declared, " he would go 
in," and, opening the door, was greeted by a dash of hot water in 
his face. 

Mrs. Speer then said, " I have respect for the United States 
troops. You can search the house, but, as for this puke of a 
Missourian he shall not come in." The troops enjoyed this un- 
ceremonious salutation, given by the Ohio lady to the brave 
official. 

Over at the Wakarusa, something like the following colloquy 
passed between the troops and Salters. They had approached a 
house where Salters was hoping to find one of the rescuers. Salters 
said to them, pointing to different localities, " You stand at those 
points." The design evidently was to intercept any one who 
might attempt to pass from the house. 
18 



206 KANSAS. 

The dragoons replied, "It is not our business to arrest 
citizens." 

With oaths, the sheriff again told them to take the places 
designated ; but their reply, " We are to protect you, and how can 
we do it, if we are stationed so far away ? " mollified his anger 
somewhat, as he remembered he had not had his life insured. 

His courage, too, was exemplified by an attempted arrest of 
one of the rescuers last winter. He called at the house of one 
of the men on the Wakarusa, against whom he had a process, 
and Mrs. A. opened the door. Salters inquired, " Where is Mr. 
A.?" 

She knew the sheriff by sight, and was determined he should 
not see Mr. A., and said, very calmly, " He is in the house." 

" I want to see him." 

" What do you want to see him for ? " 

" I have business with him." 

" Well, you can't come in." 

Some other like conversation followed, when Salters turned 
away to report that Mrs. A. had a pistol in her hand, and he had 
been in danger of being shot. When he knocked, Mrs. A. was 
putting wood in the stove, and went to the door with a little stick 
in her hand. Thus are our people continually harassed at the 
instigation of the administration. For several days the troops 
were about, attempting to find some one to assist the sheriff 
in arresting ; although, in the manliness of their hearts, they 
loathed such service, and sympathized in the expression of one of 
them, on their first arrival at Lawrence, " We have never been 
ashamed of the United States service until now. We never 
were in such vile work before." Indignation fires the hearts of 
many of our people. The feeling is so strong, that continual 
efforts, on the part of the leading men, are necessary to restrain the 
men from resistance, and the danger is imminent that some one, 
pressed beyond the verge of human endurance, may, in an un- 
guarded hour, yield to his impulses, and a hasty but ill-judged 
resistance bring on us the horrors of civil war. 

Called, a few days since, upon a friend, who was living in a 
house, which was scarcely a shelter from the storms, and whose 



ETC. 207 

husband had been trying to make it more comfortable by his own 
eflforts, when he was driven away by these villains, under the 
cover of law. The lady had been telling me, how, amid discour- 
agements, this house had been erected ; how she had been hoping 
to have it finished, so the rains would not beat in ; and, just as 
the lumber was sawed, her husband, leaving her ill, had to flee 
out into the country. 

She said, that morning she placed the rifle in the window, and 
told a young girl in the family, if she saw Salters coming, to let 
her know, and she would shoot him before he reached the house. 
By the determination of her countenance, I have no doubt she 
would have carried the resolution into efiect. Yet, naturally, she 
was not a bold woman, but one of a timid, sensitive nature, to 
whom the change from the refinements and ease of city life to 
pioneer privations was enough to bear. 

While I was there the husband came in, saying, as he sat down 
his rifle, and wiped the moisture from his brow, " I will not run 
again." 

" But what will you do ? " was the simultaneous query of us 
ooth. 

" I will protect myself," was the bold, defiant reply. 

" And resist the troops ? " 

" Yes, I will fight anybody. If I live under a government 
that does not protect me, then I will protect myself, Frank Pierce 
or no Frank Pierce." 

This reveals the state of feeling as well as mere words can. 
It is intense, and every hour deepens it. 

No clue has been found to the intended murderer of Jones. All 
efforts in that direction have proved futile. The safety of all our 
people demands that perpetrators of such deeds should be brought 
to justice. Many feared, at first, that the act was committed by 
some free-state man, who had been goaded on to vengeance by 
wrongs unparalleled under forms of law, which leave the wrong- 
doer to go unwhipt of justice, and oppress innocent and peaceable 
men. The impression prevailing now, in reference to the at- 
tempted assassination of Jones, is, that some fellow-gambler 
sought his life, and, by making the blow upon him in Lawrence, 



208 KANSAS. 

thought to screen himself, and fasten the odium of the dastardly 
act upon this oppressed people. The suggestion, too, made by 
some, that, as the killing of a free-state man in the fall proved a 
failure in causing a war of extermination, now the pro-sla- 
very ranks must fui'nish a victim, that the crusade may meet with 
success, has some show of reason. 

Reports are fast circulating through Missouri that Jones is 
dead, with handbills, of flaming character, calling upon them 
to the rescue, and their papers are full of the most vile fab- 
rications, whole columns devoted to sentiments like the following : 
" Reeder and Robinson were the aiders and abettors in the deed, 
and, at the time, were in some gully behind the town, setting on 
their accomplices." And some of the papers are exceedingly bit- 
ter in their denunciations of the commissioners ; all of which 
looks like exciting the people to another invasion. 

The only thing which has been learned, in reference to the 
attack upon Jones, is the following. Early on the evening of 
the twenty-third, two men riding upon horseback, one very 
tall, and the other very short, stopped at a house about a mile 
from Lawrence, and not far from the Lecompton road. Their 
first question was, " Is Jones in Lawrence?" 

The gentleman replied, " I believe he is." 

The taller man then said, " I am a pro-slavery man, but Jones 
shall never leave town alive." 

They left immediately, taking the direction towards Lawrence. 
A little time after, these men, marked by the differences in their 
stature, fastened their horses in front of a provision store in Law- 
rence, and walked hastily down the street towards the tents of 
the soldiers. Soon after, the firing was heard, and they, quickly 
mounting their horses, drove off furiously. Who they were has 
never been ascertained, and they were strangers to the few who 
noticed them. 



CHAPTEE XV. 

IIEDOUBLED EFFORTS FOR A NEW INVASION. 

May, the month of flowers, has come again. Sweet-scented, 
rose-colored verbenas are bloom.ing side by side with a most deli- 
cate straw-colored flower. It grows in heads like the verbena, 
each separate flower being a little larger, and with serrated edge. 
The roses and pinks make the air heavy with their perfume. 
Since the taking of the prisoners to Lecompton, and the ill suc- 
cess of Salters in arresting any more, there have been a few days 
of quiet. 

On the second of May, the ladies of the Literary Charitable 
Association gave a social entertainment at the hotel. There were 
the old settlers of Lawrence, who had pitched their tents on Mt. 
Oread eighteen months before, mingling with the newly-arrived 
citizens, the commissioners and their suite. The evening passed 
merrily, and, to add to the pleasure of many, the prisoners at 
Lecompton arrived. Through the intervention of the soldiers, 
their guard, word had been sent to Lawrence, that the lives of 
the prisoners were in danger, and some of our prominent citizens 
went up in the morning to efi"ect their release by giving bail. The 
soldiers were convinced, from the continual threats against them, 
that there were intentions of foul play, and, against the wishes of 
the ruffians, they accompanied the prisoners half way to Lawrence. 
The returned men seemed to have the same feeling one would be 
likely to experience in escaping from a lion's den, and were glad 
to receive again the kindly sympathies of their friends. Refresh- 
ments of cakes, fruits, and ice-cream, were brought in at a late 
hour, and some lovers of the dance were there. 

The outrages of the pro-slavery men are again becoming fre- 
18^ 



210 KANSAS. 

quent. Mr. Mace, residing a few miles from Lawrence, the 
evening after having given in his testimony concerning the ill 
treatment he received at the hands of the Missourians at the elec- 
tion in the spring, was shot. Hearing his dog bark, he stepped 
out of his house, and reports of pistols resounded in the air, a 
ball striking him in the leg. At the same time, he heard one 
of the assassins say, " There 's another d — d abolition wolf- 
bait ! " 

A young man, living on the Wakarusa, has been for many days 
missing. He had been seen to enter the timber bottoms, on his 
way to Lawrence. Soon after, a pro-slavery man was also seen 
taking the same course, and a shot was heard. Mr. B.'s horse 
was found with saddle on, in the woods. The Stubs, of which 
young B. was a member, searched for him, but failed to find 
him. 

The second week in May, the First District Court held its ses- 
sion at Lecompton, Judge Lecompte presiding. The congressional 
committee also held a session at Tecumseh, twenty miles above 
Lawrence, for the better accommodation of witnesses in that 
region; and of General Whitfield, who had declined to bring 
his witnesses to Lawrence, promising, however, to have them at 
Tecumseh. 

The weather being lovely, the doctor proposed that Mrs. S. and 
I should accompany him to Topeka, five miles beyond Tecumseh. 
A little later than the committee we left Lawrence, our Scotch 
friend, who had just returned from the states, accompanying us. 

A little way on the road we passed T., who was again going to 
Lecompton for trial, making the third visit there for the same 
thing. 

We reached Big Springs near noon. A collection of houses 
and a store were here, upon exceedingly high ground. The site 
gained its name from a number of springs of excellent water in 
the deep ravines near the town. 

A mile further on was Washington ; unlike the Washington 
with its broad avenue on our eastern slope, where Congress-men, 
fresh from gambling-hells and deeds of sin which the darkness 
hides, shoot down their fellows ; where our senators, for words of 



REDOUBLED EEEORTS FOR A NEW INVASION. 211 

eloquence and truth, born of holy aspirations for freedom, are 
beaten by southern chivalry. (?) 0, how the boast of the South, 
their chivalry, their gallantry, has in these latter days proved 
itself only the shadow of a substance, the semblance of a 
reality ! 

At this Washington, where its log house, kept by Pennsylva- 
nians, bears the reputation of good meals, and quickly served, we 
stopped for dinner. The huge stone fire-place, the lounge covered 
with brocatelle, the damask curtains, the little fancy clock, and 
flower- vases, gave an air of comfort to the rude arrangements of a 
pioneer home. A Botany, Mrs. Lincoln's Botany, bringing back 
our school-days and wild romps for flowers, lay open on the lounge, 
and told of a student here. To our question of who it might be, 
seeing only the proprietor and his wife, the mother, with a mother's 
pride, said her son was studying at home ; that he missed much the 
schools of Pennsylvania, but was hoping that soon good schools 
would be established here. 

The afternoon's ride was over a country of most enchanting 
loveliness. Timber was more abundant, not only marking the 
line of the creeks, but crowning the summit of many an elevation. 
As we rode through the woods, we saw little log cabins, with a 
clearing around them, and grounds fenced in. The creeks were 
all high from recent rains, but as we crossed several without diffi- 
culty, and when upon the further side of each one, safely over, I 
asked the doctor if there were any more, I grew almost impatient 
at the stereotyped answer, " One or two," and Mrs. S. laughed, 
and said, " Why, what a timid little thing you are ! " It was not 
fear of any personal danger which annoyed me, but the unpleas- 
antness of detention by the breaking of the carriage. The horses 
were very restive in going down the steep banks, and it would not 
be the most delightful thing in the world to find one's self taking 
an unintentional plunge-bath in such muddy waters as the pouring 
rains of the last week had occasioned. 

But we had accomplished the journey to within three or four 
miles of Tecumseh without hindrance ; and, as we approached 
another creek, which had precipitous banks, we found four heavily- 
loaded emigrant wagons, each drawn by five or six yoke of oxen. 



212 KANSAS. 

in advance of us. One or two teams had just crossed, and one 
was tlien going down the bank, while the last one was waiting, and 
we drove in ahead to be ready for the next passage. There was a 
bridge over the water when at its usual height, but this rise had 
covered the bridge, and everything by which we could tell its 
actual position. 

The heavy wagon of the emigrants struck the bridge a little 
too far on the right, and the wheels slid off into the water. The 
danger at this time was that the wagon would be upset into the 
creek. We could not pass it, and must wait just where we were, 
half down the winding bank, a high ledge on one side of us, 
and a miniature precipice on the other, where old dead branches 
of trees abounded. The driver of the wagon took off all the oxen 
save one yoke, and he cudgelled them in a manner, which the 
ancient text, " The righteous man is merciful to his beast," proved 
him to be entirely lacking in the kindly element, but not one step 
did the poor cattle stir. 

A half hour passed away. The other yokes were put on again. 
The man stood on the lower side, in the water, and attempted to 
steady the wheels ; but the oxen did not pull. The wagon was a 
fixture directly on this highway between Lawrence and Topeka. 
The oxen seemed unused to the yoke, and the teamsters equally 
new in driving them, and the question of our getting to Topeka 
began to grow serious. At last the oxen were taken from the 
front of the wagon, and placed on the other end ; also some other 
cattle were taken from the wagon on the road, making ten yokes 
in all. The attempt to start the wagon backward was now to be 
made, and we were directly in the way. Our carnage was driven 
as far out on the edge of the bank as it could stand, leaving just 
room enough for the oxen and wagon to pass out by the side of 
us, if they behaved well, and with a laudable regard for other 
people's rights, made no encroachments upon ours. Mrs. S. seemed 
to have a doubt of their doing so, and with the gentlemen left the 
carriage, and me all alone in it. Mr. P., however, was not far 
away. Doctor at last took the whip, and tried his skill at driving 
the patient creatures. Another, with whip in hand, which he 
brandished with amazing dignity, stood between them and the 



REDOUBLED EFFORTS FOR A NEW INVASION. 213 

carriage ; still another was holding the tongue of the wagon. 
After various ineffectual efforts, and muoh loud hallooing, mingled 
with doubts and fears on our part, the oxen gave one " long and 
strong pull together," and the wheels moved. The man standing 
nearest them fell into the water, but he came up again with a 
broad grin upon his face, and we could not help making it general. 
With three pulls, and three several " dips " of the man into the 
creek, the laugh each time being louder as his good-natured face 
appeared dripping with the muddy water, not a jot of his cheer- 
fulness abated, the wagon was removed from the way. Our party 
bsing quickly reseated in the carriage, by the aid of the drenched 
man, who offered to stand by the bridge that we might know where 
it was, we reached the other shore safely, and were on our way 
again. We asked the doctor, who had had a California trip over- 
land, how this compared with some of their crossing of streams on 
the plains, and he answered us very energetically, that " it was 
nothing in comparison to those." On our arrival at Tecumseh, 
we found the party who had started ahead of us had had trouble 
in crossing, the water being so high that they had to leave their 
carriage for a time, getting over themselves at some other point, 
or climbing among the dead logs. 

Tecumseh is a fine location for a town ; high from the river, 
with a heavy growth of wood near by. A court-house of brick, 
with pillars, is being built, also a large brick store, while the 
hotel, which is a wooden building, is quite capacious. Stinson, a 
white man, who married a Shawnee wife, resides here. He is a 
pro-slavery man, and owns two or three slaves. By the treaty, 
every member of his family is entitled to two hundred acres of 
land ; hence, he is quite a landholder. Judge Elmore also re- 
sides here. It has been currently reported, and never contra- 
dicted, that, during the severe cold of last winter, the judge and 
his wife were obliged to take care of their nineteen slaves — he 
hauling wood, and cutting it, to keep them warm ; that one old 
man froze to death in his bed, while another was crippled for 
life. 

The district here is largely free-state, notwithstanding some of 
the owners in the Hwn are pro-slavery. Col. Woodson, of Inde- 



214 KANSAS. 

pendsice, Missouri, acting counsel for Gren. Whitfield, had busi- 
ness at home which required his immediate attendance, when ho 
learned the commissioners were going to Tecumseh. The singu- 
larity and suddenness of the move was explained satisfactorily, 
when examining the poll books of the 30th of March election, the 
name of Col. S. H. Woodson, Independence, Missouri, was found 
registered in full. 

We arrived at Topeka towards night-fall, after crossing two 
more deep ravines, and one strong bridge, a mark of civilization 
and progress. We drove to a building which had been kept as a 
hotel by an acquaintance. They had gone out of town, and were 
living on a claim. Having found the direction, we went out there, 
stopping on the way, however, at " Commercial Head Quarters," 
to learn if accommodations for a few days could be had there. 
The reply v^as, " We are building, everything is topsy-turvy, but 
we will see what we can do for you." 

We found our Boston friend living some two miles from town, 
and no road running near. There was a lovely prospect in the 
distance, but solitude unequalled all around. The house was 
neither a shelter from the winds nor storms. The floor-boards 
were loose, moving at every step, with large cracks between, and, 
through fear of snakes, she slept upon a few boards laid upon the 
beams near the roof, and scarcely dared step from the door, so 
great was her fear of them. She was ill with a severe cold, taken 
by exposures, and seemed a little nervous too, in regard to the 
continual outrages of the Missourians, but was hoping soon to get 
back to her house in town. 

We returned to •' Commercial Head Quarters," and entered 
through a long, narrow room ; cooking-stove and table were stand- 
ing upon one side, and table with chairs upon the other, while 
upon the end, leaving only room for the door into an entry, were 
a large number of shelves, with other shelves also near the door, on 
the side of the room. They were all empty, and Yankee inge- 
nuity does not suggest for what purpose they were hung. Two or 
three cages of canaries hung overhead, and they twittered and 
sung contitually. Back of the little entry was the dining-room, 
with just room enough left for stairway between the two rooms. 



REDOUBLED EFFOMt.^ FOR A NEW INVASION. 215 

The stairs were little, narrow boards laid on insecurely ! How 
dizzy one's head grew at the first steep ascent ! Time and use 
even did not render them wholly safe to me, with nothing to steady 
one's self by, and there was no security against reaching the bot- 
tom by a quicker mode than stairways usually anticipate. On 
reaching the lauding at the top, we found ourselves in a room of 
the same size as the lower one. This, evidently, was a general 
sleeping apartment, for there were beds, beds, nothing but beds. 
They stood along the sides of the room, the foot of the first reach- 
ing the head of the second, and leaving only a space a few feet 
square by the stairway. Stepping about two feet in a straightfor- 
ward direction, we came to another little entry, from which stairs 
to the attic ascended. On the left was a door opening into the 
printing-office, and on the right a curtain, which supplied the place 
of door, was uplifted, and we were ushered into an apartment. 
We sat down on a sofa (two were standing close together, and 
filled one side of the room), and realized that, as Mr. G. said, 
" they are topsy-turvy," and not that exactly, but that there is a 
great deal of furniture in one room. The width of the sofa, sera- 
phine, and large French bedstead, was a nice fit for one end of 
the room. The lounge and handsome secretary, with a chair at 
each end of it, filled in between the bedstead and another one at 
the other end of the room. Centre-table stood a little in front 
of the secretary, with a vase of beautiful flowers, and jewelry 
case upon it. A large Boston rocker, with mahogany squab-seat 
chairs and cricket, made up the movable furniture. A family 
portrait gallery adorned the walls. There were pictures of beau- 
tiful little children, and pictures, also, of scriptural design, drawn 
from the times of the Saviour. This room was set apart for Mrs. 
S. and I, and, though one could hardly take two steps without 
moving a chair, we soon felt quite at home. There was a number 
of boarders in the house, and in the two families keeping the 
house only thirteen children. This house, at the time of the con- 
stitutional convention, accommodated seventy boarders. 

The ladies of Topeka, with their wealth of social feeling, soon 
called to see us. The sewing-circle and temperance society also 
held their meeting while we were there. The ladies, coming from 



216 KANSAS. 

almost all states in the Union, seemed to be bound together in 
strong bonds of friendship, and the partiality they feel for Topeka 
above other settlements is not only felt but loudly expressed. It 
is doubtless true that the residents of other settlements are as 
strongly impressed with the advantages of their own. It is a sin- 
gular fact, and one often remarked in this country, that, if we were 
to judge by the observations of others, or our own feelings when 
in different localities, each place is " the most beautiful of all." 
Almost every person seems to think their own claim the best, and 
it can only be accounted for by the acknowledgment of the fact 
that an exceeding loveliness is spread over the whole face of the 
country, and actual possession of such beauty doubles its value to 
the possessor. 

Towards evening of one of the days we were at Topeka, the 
commissioners, Gov. Reeder, and several others, arrived from 
Tecumseh. The house was indeed full. Doctor went out to some 
of his acquaintances, to see if he could not find lodgings for us 
elsewhere, that he might, by giving up his bed in the general sleep- 
ing-room, make room for more ; but every one's house was full. 
The necessity of the case then demanded that two sleeping apart- 
ments should be made of one room, and, by driving some nails in 
the beam overhead, and hanging Mr. S.'s large, red, double blanket 
in the centre, this was quickly done. 

The same day one of Buford's men was at Tecumseh with a 
subpoena for Gov. Keeder to appear as a witness before the grand 
jury at Lecompton He declined answering the summons, on the 
ground of his business before the commissioners — that he was 
exempt from appearing as a witness. Open threats were being 
made at this time against Gov. Reeder 's life. Major Clark- 
the murderer of Barber, was drilling a company of fifty men at 
Lecompton, daily, and the Buford men were gathering at Lecomp- 
ton. We passed them in companies of eight or ten as we went to 
and from Topeka. They have no money, only the clothes they 
wear, and a rifle, for which they have given their notes to Major 
Buford. They looked, indeed, like the very offscouring of all 
creation. 

"When they landed at Kansas city they had no money to pay 



REDOUBLED EFFORTS FOR A NEW INVASION. 217 

for their night's lodging, and did not meet with that free, whole- 
hearted suj^port which they expected from the many calls made 
upon them to come to the territory. One of the men was forcibly 
ejected from the pantry of the hotel there, that not being the land- 
lord's usual place of entertaining his guests. The same evening, 
after reaching Kansas city, Major Buford called his men on to the 
high hill back of the hotel, and laid down the orders to them. 
He bound them upon an oath taken upon the Bible to remain in the 
territory to vote, and at all times to hold themselves in readiness 
to fight while they did remain. Some of the party, who, by 
false representations, had been induced to join the company, be- 
came disgusted with the new phase affairs were taking, and imme- 
diately left for home. Others would have done the same, but for 
want of passage-money. 

A member of that company, now in the government employ, 
told me the offer of Major Buford was, to pay their expenses 
here, support them twelve months, and set them upon claims which 
were already selected for them, and he was then to have a share 
in the claim. Being poor, these inducements to get a living were a 
temptation, and the lure was successful. How different was the 
reality when they arrived here ! This man also stated that the first 
time they heard that fighting was to be their business was when they 
arrived at Kansas city. Hence the disgust with which many re- 
turned to their homes. That they are, as a whole, a poor, degraded, 
ignorant set of beings, one glance will suffice to show. Complaining 
as one of them was to a free-state man, for years a resident of the 
territory, of his bitter fate, the latter said to him, " Why don't 
you get some work to do ? " 

" I can't work ; I never worked a day in my life." 

" Then you will have to buy a negro, and let him work for 
you." 

" I have no money to buy anything." 

What can such a community as this do in Kansas ? Is there 
anything left for such creatures to do but kill, plunder and de- 
stroy? It has been the threat of some pro-slavery men, that 
when the free-state men should be driven out, they would take 
their houses and claims. Is this the selection of claims Major B. 
19 



218 KANSAS. 

had reference to, in promising claims to his men ? While such 
men as these were making Lecompton their head-quarters, and 
Major Clark was drilling his fifty men, Judge Lecompte delivered 
his extraordinary charge to the grand jury. As a legal curiosity 
it deserves preservation, and will be regarded with interest by all 
who have fallen under the jurisdiction of a judge as much more 
infamous than Judge Jeffries as his consummate ignorance renders 
him more despicable. A portion of it reads thus : 

" This territory was organized by an act of Congress, and so flu 
its authority is from the United States. It has a legislature 
elected in pursuance of that organic act. This legislature, leing 
a7i instrument of Congress by which it governs the territory, has 
passed laivs. These laws, therefore, are of United States authority 
and making ; and all that resist these laios resist the power and 
authority of the JJnited States, and are, therefore, guilty of high 
treason. 

" Now, gentlemen, if you find that any person has resisted these 
laws, then you must, under your oaths, find bills against them for 
high treason. If you find that no such resistance has been made, 
but that combinations have been formed for the purpose of resist- 
ing them, and individuals of influence and notoriety have been 
aiding and abetting in such combinations, then must you find 
bills for constructive treason." To make the matter so plain that 
even the dullest of his hearers may not fail to comprehend his 
meaning, he states that some who are " dubbed governor, lieuten- 
ant governor, etc., are such individuals of influence and notoriety." 

Before this famous charge of Judge Lecompte, on the 8th of 
May, as Gov. Keeder had returned from Tecumseh, and was con- 
ducting the examination of a witness before the committee at 
Lawrence, Deputy Marshal Fain appeared in court, and served a 
writ of attachment upon Governor Reeder. He arose and informed 
the committee of the flict, and gave the three following reasons 
for his not obeying the subpoena of the day before ; namely, infor- 
mality in the writ, insecurity of person at Lecompton, and privi- 
lege as a member of Congress. The writ was not properly ad- 
dressed to any officer ; it did not specify the day in which it 
required him to appear ; it was not properly attested. He stated 



REDOUBLED EFFORTS FOR A NB\\ INVASION. 219 

fartlier, that the House of llepresentatives had recognized him as 
a claimant for a seat in that body, as a delegate from Kansas ; 
that he was, therefore, entitled to the same privileges as a mem- 
ber of Congress, conferred by the sixth section of article first of the 
federal constitution. It was also the opinion of the majority of 
the committee that Gov. Reeder would be privileged from arrest 
to the same extent that a member of the committee would be, and 
that his duty required him to attend the sittings of the committee 
instead of those of the territorial courts. Gov. Reeder was a con- 
testant for a seat in Congress ; his memorial had been received ; 
the committee was sent to Kansas to take testimony in his case ; 
and his attendance, in obedience to the summons of the committee, 
is essential to the prosecution of their labors. He must judge for 
himself upon his course of action. Gov. Eeeder then informed the 
ofiicer he should not be arrested, and, if he attempted it, it would 
be at his peril. Soon after the deputy left, however, he sent a 
letter to Judge Lecompte, saying he would appear before him 
as a witness, if he would promise him protection while in Lecomp- 
ton, and grant him a safe return to Lawrence when he should have 
given in his testimony. The answer of the judge was, that " the 
matter had gone out of his hands." 

The committee being about to leave for Leavenworth, Governor 
Heeder was warned not to go with them if he would escape assas- 
sination ; but his reply was that he should go. It was Lot un- 
known to many that, on his first arrival in Kansas, in May, com- 
ing to Lawrence by way of Leavenworth, he had only left the 
last-named place when a band of men threatened to assassinate 
him if he could be found. These threats had not grown less 
bitter or more rare, and reports from Wyandot, Leavenworth, and 
Kansas city, showed that a new invasion was being planned against 
the territory. On the tenth, word came into Lawrence of these 
plans of the borderers. They were crossing into the territory and 
forming about Atchison, ready to march at any time. Their first 
plan was, by forced and stealthy marches, at night, to surprise 
Lawrence. 33ut, seeing the impracticability of such a procedure, 
another plan more sure was adopted, and, on the eleventh of May, 



220 KANSAS. 

United States Marshal Donaldson issued his proclanjation of 
falsehoods. 

" PROCLAMATION ! 
" TO THE PEOPLE OF KANSAS TEERITORY. 

" Whereas certain judicial writs have been directed to me, by 
the First District Court of the United States, etc., to be executed 
within the County of Douglas ; and whereas an attempt to execute 
them by the United States deputy marshal was violently resisted 
by a large number of the citizens of Lawrence, and as there is 
every reason to believe that an attempt to execute these writs will 
be resisted by a large body of armed men ; now, therefore, the 
law-abiding citizens of the territory are commanded to be and ap- 
pear at Lecompton, as soon as practicable, and in numbers suffi- 
cient for the proper execution of the law. 

" Given under my hand, this 11th day of May, 1856. 

" J. B. Donaldson, 
" U. S. Marshal for Kansas Territory.''^ 

My husband, going upon business to the East, was also taken 
prisoner on the tenth of May, by a gang of Missourians at Lex- 
ington. They declared he was running away from an indictment, 
and by their whole conversation showed themselves better ac- 
quainted with the designs of Judge Lecompte and Gov. Shan- 
non than the people of this territory. They sent word to this 
tool of theirs, who bears the title of governor of the territory, and 
he recognized them as his agents and accomplices. 

Letters written by H. C. Pate, filled with utter falsehoods, cal- 
culated to arouse the passions of the border men, were published in 
the St. Louis RepuUican. In a letter dated Palermo, K. T., May 
5, and published in the Republican, he made an untrue statement 
with regard to Jones, then stated that a man by the name of 
Harper had been shot in or near Lawrence, and went into doleful 
strains on the want of compassion of the people of Lawrence for 
the bereaved wife and children ; all of which was a sheer fabrica- 
tion — no man of the name of Harper having lived in Lawrence, or 
any man been molested; ani another proof was given of the old 



REDOUBLED EFFORTS FOR A NEW INVASION. 221 

adage, that " an idle man's brain is the devil's workshop." He 
closed his letter, however, by an appeal for present help, saying, 
" I think I shall be able, in a few days, to give you something of 
an interesting and conclusive character." 

In this way was every means used to create a war in the terri- 
tory. The St. Louis Intelligencer published the following letter, 
dated 

'« Parkville, Mo., May 16, 1856. 

" Prepare for an awful shock ! Hold a steady helm, or the 
old ship will be wrecked! Armed men are rushing into the 
territory. The destruction of Lawrence is meditated. Civil war 
is just before us. Couriers just from Lawrence say they have 
from one thousand to fifteen hundred men, while there are from 
eight hundred to one thousand around the place, but increasing 
fast. It is thought the destruction of the committee and evidence 
is the cause of the outbreak, or at the bottom. We pray the 
Almighty Grod to avert these dreadful evils. The secret border 
league is at the head of this affair. It is expected to result in 
disunion. The ultras on both sides are dangerous men. Strike 
boldly for the union of this great country, and may God bless 
you. It is said the ladies of Lawrence are arming. The Platte 
city cannon and many men have gone over. None have yet 
gone from Parkville. It is not advised by the masses ; most good 
citizens are against it." 

While this shows the state of things in the Missouri border, 
outrage and pillage were already committed by the ruffians arrived 
in the territory. As a party of free-state men, on the fifteenth of 
May, were quietly at work in a field in Benicia, a little town 
about eight miles from Lawrence, unarmed, they were suddenly 
surrounded by twenty-five Missourians, wholly armed, who, with- 
out any warrant or authority, took them prisoners. They carried 
them into a neighboring cabin, and, with many threats of instant 

death, ordered them to leave Kansas. " Gr — d d n you, if you 

are ever caught here again you shall be strung up ! Go to Ne- 
braska, d n you ! You have no right in Kansas I " was the 

language of these ruffians. " We are coming to Lawrence in a 
19* 



222 KANSAS. 

few days, to wipe out the d d abolition city, and to kill or 

drive off 3very one of the inhabitants," was \hQ finale of all their 
threats. All the prisoners except a Mr. S., of Worcester, Mass., 
were soon released. He had answered them like a man, and was 
reserved for further punishment. The following is the speech of 
Major Herbert, the leader of the ruffians : 

" Gentlemen : The cause of our being together to-day is of a 
peculiar character. The condition of things at this time, and 
things that have been said and done, you are better acquainted 
with than I am. I have been here but a short time. What you 
know are facts ; what I know is hearsay, but my information is 
such that it becomes facts. 

*' I now want to give you a piece of advice. You are in a state 
of rebellion. You have been aiding designing men in carrying 
out their point, which has brought this Union almost or quite 
into a state of dissolution. You have been offering resistance to 
the laws of the territorial Legislature, which was no doubt a legal 
one. The President has declared it legal ; Congress has declared 
it legal ; and resistance to those laws is Treason ! 

" What did you come here for? Why did you not go to Min- 
nesota, or Nebraska ? It is not half settled, and is as good country 
as this. But, no ; you must come here. You want to get the 
whole of the territory. That belongs to the South. 

" We are going to drive you all out. We are going to Law- 
rence to take their arms. We are going to take every d d 

thing they have got. The South asks nothing of the North. Now 
my advice to you is this : keep on at your work here, stay at home, 
have nothing to do with elections or voting. If you do you will 
be liable to be hanged on the first tree you come to. 

" Every man has a right to his opinions, and a right to express 
them openly. Do you suppose I would go into a free-state camp 
and tell them that I was a free-state man ? No, by G — d ! I 
should hope I had more respect for myself or country. I told 
my people, before I left home, that I would see that this was 
made a slave-state, or die, and, by G — d, it shall be done, or every 
pro-slavery man in the territory will die in the attempt. It will 



REDOUBLED EFFORTS FOE. A NEW INVASION. 223 

be done peaceably if it can ; if not, by G—d, it shall be by the 
point of the bowie-knife ! 

" This territory belongs to the South, and, by Gr — d, the South 
will have it ! Is not this so, boys? [turning to his posse. * It is,' 
was the response.] You have offered no resistance, and I hope 
that you will not. If you do you will be dealt with in a more 
summary manner. Gentlemen, you are released." 

Cows and other animals had, for several days, been killed and 
carried off to the camp of the invaders at Lecompton. One free- 
state man was obliged by the ruffians to drive his own cow there, 
where they killed her before his eyes. 

On the evening of the 13th of May, Mr. J. Weaver, assistant 
sergeant at arms of the congressional committee, was returning 
to Lawrence with one of the witnesses whom he had subpoened. 
Not finding his way to the ferry readily, a United States dragoon, 
whom he met, offered to show him the way, and as they came in 
sight of the ferry, they were just upon a camp of one hundred 
men, armed with revolvers, bowie-knives, United States muskets, 
and bayonets. They rode through the camp to the ferry-landing, 
and dismounted. As they did so, several men lying about on the 
grouna exclaimed, " What in the h — 11 does that mean? " 

A crowd from the camp gathered around them, and one, coming 
in front of Mr. Weaver, asked where he was from, and where 
going; to which he replied he had been up north, and was going 
to Lawrence ; when one of the ruffians remarked, " You won't get 
there very soon." He then asked " how he was on the goose ? " 
to which he replied, " he was on the right side," but did not enter 
into any explanations of what, in his estimation, the right side 
might be. This answer raised the ire of the ruffian, and he said 
Mr. Weaver was " a fit subject to stay with them over night." 

At this remark a number of the men gathered around with 
muskets in their hands. Another man, who had been talking with 
the dragoon, came up and said to the man, " It would be better 
not to interfere with Mr. Weaver, as he was in charge of the 
dragoon." Mr. Weaver then said " he was not in charge of the 
dragoon, but was himself a United States officer," and to the 



224 KANSAS. 

question of what kind of an officer, he replied, " he was an officer 
of the U. S House of Representatives, and was called sergeant-at- 
arms." 

His papers were then called for, and he handed his subpoena to 
a man they called colonel, who had the appearance of a man who 
might read. 

After a thorough examination of the papers, and some consult- 
ation, he told Mr. W. "his case would be considered," asking him 
if " he did not know these were war times." 

When Mr. W. expressed his ignorance of such a fact, the ruffian 
replied, " he would inform him these were war times, and folks 
must be on their guard ; that it was a matter of importance that 
people be examined who do not show a plain front." He finished 
his dissertation by saying " that Mr. ^Y. could not be released from 
custody, as the captain was not in camp." 

Mr. W. told him " it was a matter of importance that he be 
not detained, as he must appear before the committee of investi- 
gation at Lawrence ; " and, after a good deal of urging, another 
examination of his papers, and a new consultation among the 
ruffians, it was decided that Mr. W. and the witness should be 
sent under a guard of armed men to Lecompton, to be examined 
by Col. Wilkes, commanding at that time. So, after a detention 
of an hour or more, they were sent to Lecompton, and delivered 
to Col. Wilkes. After an examination of the papers, assisted by 
a Gen. Cramer, Col. W. told Mr. Weaver he thought "he was 
entitled to pass without molestation; but the forces in the terri- 
tory being still unorganized^ he would be liable to interruption 
and detention by the way." 

He told him, also, " if he was hailed by any of the parties, to 
answer immediately, by all means, else he would certainly be 
shot." 

At the request of Mr. W., to save detention by these parties, 
Col. Wilkes gave the following pass : 

"Lecompton, Kansas, May 13, 1856. 
"To ALL WKOM IT MAY CONCERN: This is to Certify that I 
have examined the papers of Mr. J. A. Weaver, in company with 



REDOUBLED EFFORTS FOR A NEW INVASION. 225 

Gen. Cramer, and I am satisfied that he is acting under authority 
of the U. S. House of Representatives, and should pass unmo- 
lested. " Warren D. Wilkes, 

" Of South Carolina." 

This is a South Carolina pass ; and the party who arrested Mr. 
W. claimed to be from South Carolina. Wilkes is one of Buford's 
men, a lieutenant in the band of ruffians. He is one of the self 
constituted regulators in the territory in the affairs of actual 
settlers ; was one of the destroyers of Lawrence, and was after- 
wards the leader of a gang of brutal men at Leavenworth, who 
arrested peaceable citizens without authority, and at the point of 
the bayonet. 

On the 16th May, as Mr. Stowell was coming in from Kansas 
city to Lawrence, passing through Franklin, his wagon was 
stopped, and some boxes of guns broken open, and contents taken. 
Also a wagon-load of flour was taken possession of by the mar- 
shal's posse. 

About the same time, Dr. Root and Mr. Mitchell, only a 
little time in the territory, having been down below Lawrence to 
look after some teams which they thought were delayed unneces- 
sarily, on their return to Wabousa, left Lawrence on the after- 
noon of the IGth. On passing an encampment of Marshal Don- 
aldson's, it being already dark, they were fired upon by a company 
of fifteen or twenty men, who rushed from a small cabin near the 
road, shouting and firing as they came. They were taken pris- 
oners by them, while two gentlemen ahead of them, on fleet 
horses, escaped the whizzing balls. Hence the intelligence which 
went over the country that Dr. Root and Mr. Mitchell were 
killed. 

About the same time. Judge Conway and P. C. Schuyler, 
returning to the territory from a tour in the states, were taken off 
the William Campbell by a mob. Their appeal to the officers of 
the boat availed them nothing. They only learned from them the 
simple fact that the affair was a " matter between them and the 
mob." The mob pretended " these gentlemen were endeavoring 
Ito leave the territory, and that writs were out against them." 



226 KANSAS. 

Their coming into, instead of going out of, the territory was 
sufficient to show the falsity of such a pretence, and they expressed 
their willingness to answer to any charge before any court. The 
gentlemen preferring to trust their safety in the hands of friends, 
turned a deaf ear to the suggestions of one of the border ruffians, 
" that they were better off where they were than in the territory ; 
for there was a heap of trouble there now, and, from what they 
believed, would be much safer in Parkville." Some of the more 
respectable people in Parkville interfered, and procured the 
release of Judge Conway and Mr. Schuyler from the ringleaders. 

On the night of the 13th, Mr. Jenkins and G. W. Brown, of 
Lawrence, were taken prisoners by a band of ruffians, half-way 
between Westport and Kansas city, on their way to Lawrence. 

Travelling was unsafe in the territory, bands of these ruffians 
being encamped at many points. About the 18th, armed men 
were camped on the "Big Stranger," waiting for the water to 
abate before they could cross with their two brass six-pound how- 
itzers, and their ammunition and provision wagons. There was 
the camp of desperadoes at Lecompton, and bands of armed men 
infesting the usually travelled route from Lawrence to Kansas 
city. People passing on the highways were stopped, searched, 
and robbed of anything which pleased the invaders. These high- 
waymen and freebooters were called into the territory by the 
marshal's proclamation of the 11th, and their expenses were to 
be defrayed by the general government. Our people were annoyed 
beyond endurance. Their property was destroyed, their lives in 
jeopardy, and their rights trampled upon by these vile minions of a 
viler administration. United States muskets were put in the hands 
of these Carolinians and Alabamians, not one month in the terri- 
tory, by Gov. Shannon, thus making himself a tool in the hands 
of the President, to consummate his infamy. The following pass 
is proof positive that Gov. Shannon is implicated in all these 
villanies : 

"Executive Office, } 

Lecompton, K. T., May 17, 1856. ) 

" The bearer of this is Jesse Newill, an acquaintance of mine 
from Ohio, who is now in this territory with the view of looking 



REDOUBLED EFFORTS FOR A NEW INVASION. 227 

out for a situation to locate a saw-mill. He desires to examine 
the country and select a place well provided with timber. He is 
accompanied by his son, John Newill, Joseph Fitzsimmons, his 
brother-in-law, and a Dr. Gamble. 

" They are no way identified with the present troubles in this 
territory. 

"Now, therefore, I have to request all persons to permit the 
said Jesse Newill and his comrades to pass and repass throughout 
the territory without molestation. 

"Wilson Shannox, 

" Governor of Kansas." 

The following pass also deserves preservation, as it emanated 
from the executive department of the territory. There are many 
more of the same kind afloat : 

" let this man pas for i no him to bee a law and abiding man. 

" Samuel Salters." 

Gov. Shannon's pass was given under these circumstances : Mr. 
Jesse Newill, recently from Ohio, after having been arrested 
several times in going near Lecompton, at last entered the town, 
and, seeing the governor, rode up to him, saying, " What does all 
this mean ? " 

The governor, falling back on his dignity, of which he has no 
small share when he is enjoying a sense of security, both from 
friends and foes, said, " There is no use of complaining. The 
territory is under martial law, and a civil war is inevitable." 

The governor seemed uneasy to get away from being questioned 
by an old friend. His conscience, although of the gutta percha 
kind, might have given an occasional twinge, when pressed by the 
close queries of a man of sense. On parting, he gave Mr. Newill 
the above characteristic pass. 

Thus, while the people of Missouri arrest the leading men in 
the territory, Gov. Shannon accepts their services ; while several 
are actually indicted upon a charge of high treason, — while the 
marshal has called in these Missourians to meet at Lecompton for 



228 KANSAS. 

siege upon Lawrence, — the Washington Union is out, with the 
bloodthirstiness of the border papers, for the extermination of the 
free-state men in Kansas. It expresses its hopes " that an exam- 
ple will be made of some of the ringleaders," and says, " It is 
high time that rebellion and treason should be brought to the bar 
of justice." T\Tiat could better express the purposes of this 
administration, whose real head is Jefferson Davis and Caleb 
Gushing & Co.? 

White servitude is the order in Kansas ; but the more galling 
the bondage, the sooner will its reign be over, and the chains 
which bind us will drag down eternally, deeper than plummet hath 
ever sounded, our infamous oppressors. Let the Union talk of 
" treason and rebellion " to a tyrannical usurpation being brought 
to justice. There is no justice in Kansas. Let Douglas say, " I 
will subdue you," and let this subjugation be accomplished by 
President Pierce's " army and navy " at the point of the bayonet 
and the murderous rifle. Death, too, may come at his hands ; but 
with it the soul wins immortality. The " traitor " may expiate 
his love of freedom on the scaffold of his building ; but the world 
will see in it the pedestal of honor. 

** For humanity sweeps onwarcl ; •where to-day the martyr stands. 
To-morrow crouches Judas, "with his silver in his hands ; 
While the howling mob of yesterday in silent awe return, 
To glean the scattered ashes into History's golden urn." 



CHAPTER XYI.. 

THE ATTACK UPON LAWRENCE. 

Surely the web has been woven around the little city of 
eighteen months' existence. Its prosperity has excited the envy 
of the spoiler, and gradually now the vile men under J. B. 
Donaldson, United States Marshal, are drawing nearer ; the 
circle about the beleaguered town is continually growing less. 
Tliey come with United States authority. The President seeks 
renown in the bombarding of a poor little town on the far- 
western prairies ; and his hordes, suggesting to all beholders the 
idea of a resurrection from the infernal regions, or a sudden leap 
into Dante's Inferno, are gathered here. Gov. Shannon lends his 
servility to the scheme. But let the facts be stated ; let the 
documents which passed between our people and their (?) governor 
be proof in the matter. 

Rumors, well authenticated, were afloat in the community that 
large companies were gathering into the territory at different 
points ; that they were drilling and preparing for an attack upon 
Lawrence. The last rumor was that a demand would be made 
upon the town for Reeder and Robinson and others, both of those 
named already being absent ; that, if these were not given up, 
the town should be sacked. It was stated, further, that a large 
posse would enter the place, and, after making arrests, the posse 
would be disbanded to sack the town. The marshal's proclama- 
tion was issued on the 11th. This was not sent to Lawrence, nor 
any means used to acquaint the people with the designs of the 
officers. The people, however, acting upon the continual threats 
of invasion, called a meeting, and appointed a committee of three 
to wait upon Gov. Shannon, and apprize him of the real state of 
20 



230 KANSAS. 

affairs, and ask his interference in their behalf. The following 
letter was sent from Lawrence by the committee to G-ov. Shannon : 

" LatiVrexce City, Kansas, May 11, 1856. 
" Dear Sir : The undersigned are charged with the duty of 
communicating to your Excellency the following preamble and 
resolutions, adopted by the citizens of Lawrence at a public meet- 
ing holden at this place at seven o'clock this evening, viz. : 

" ' Whereas we have the most reliable information, from vari- 
ous points of the territory and the adjoining State of Missouri, 
of the organization of guerilla bands, who threaten the destruc- 
tion of our town and its citizens, therefore, 

" * Resolved, That Messrs. Topliff, Hutchinson, and Roberts, 
constitute a committee to inform his Excellency G-ov. Shannon of 
these facts, and to call upon him, in the name of the people of 
Lawrence, for protection against such bands by the United States 
troops at his disposal.' 

" All of which is most respectfully submitted, by order of the 
people of Lawrence. 

" Very truly, etc., 

" C. AV. Topliff, 
John HuTcniNSOx, 

W. Y. KOBERTS." 

After Gov. Shannon had held a consultation with several of 
the leaders at Lecompton, he returned the following missive, of 
doubtful import : 

" Executive Office, ^ 

Lecompton, K. T., Mmj 12, 1853. j 

" Gentlemen : Your note of the 11th instant is received ; and, 
in reply, I have to state that there is no force around or approach- 
ing Lawrence, except the legally constituted posse of the United 
States Marshal, and Sheriff of Douglas County, each of whom, I 
am informed, has a number of writs for execution against persons 
now in Lawrence. 

" I shall in no way interfere with either of these officers in the 
discharge of their official duties. 



THE ATTACK UPON LAWRENCE. 231 

" If the citizens of Lawrence submit themselves to the terri- 
torial laws, and aid and assist the marshal and sheriff in the 
execution of processes in their hands, as all good citizens are bound 
to do, when called on, they or all such will entitle themselves to 
the protection of the law. 

" But so long as they keep up a militury or armed organization 
to resist the territorial laws, and the officers charged with their 
execution, I shall not interfere to save them from the legitimate 
consequences of their illegal acts. 
" I have the honor to be 

" Yours with great respect, 

" Wilson Shannon. 
" Messrs. C. W. Topliff, 

John Hutchinson, 
W. Y. Roberts." 

The citizens of Lawrence will be entitled to protection while 
they submit to the territorial laws. He is very careful, however, 
not to promise such protection ; and the non-committal essay 
leaves room for the belief that, if the people did not yield like 
slaves to the insolence of an irresponsible mob, they would be 
regarded by him as outlaws, and be wholly given over to his 
reckless gang of desperadoes. " No military or armed organiza- 
tion to resist the territorial laws, and the officers charged with 
their execution," has ever been formed in Lawrence, which Gov. 
Shannon knew well. There have been military companies with 
stated drills, and these have constituted all the organizations 
entered into, save the one which he himself commissioned, gladly 
availing himself of its protection from the lawless mob he had 
precipitated upon us. 

On Tuesday, the 13th of May, one of the marshal's proclama- 
tions was brought into town, and its charges were so entirely 
false and cruel in their intent, that the citizens immediately came 
together in public meeting, Judge W. presiding, and the following 
resolutions were adopted : 

"Whereas, by a proclamation to the people of Kansas Terri- 



232 KANSAS. 

torj, by J. B, Donaldson, United States Marshal for said territory, 
issued on the 11th day of May, 1856, it is alleged that certain 
'judicial writs of arrest have been dii'ected to him by the First 
District Court of the United States, etc.. to be executed within 
the County of Douglas, and that an attempt to execute them by 
the United States Deputy Marshal was violently resisted by a 
large number of the citizens of Lawrence, and that there is every 
reason to believe that any attempt to execute these writs will be 
resisted by a largo body of armed men,' therefore, 

" Resolved^ by this public meeting of the citizens of Lawrence, 
held this 13th day of May, 1856, that the allegations and 
charges against us, contained in the aforesaid proclamation, are 
wholly untrue in fact, and the conclusion entirely false which is 
drawn therefrom ; the aforesaid deputy marshal was resisted in 
no manner whatsoever, nor by any person whatever, in the execu- 
tion of said writs, except by him whose arrest the said deputy 
marshal was seeking to make ; and that we now, as we have done 
heretofore, declare our willingness and our determination, without 
resistance, to acquiesce in the service upon us of any judicial 
writs against us by the United States Marshal for Kansas Terri- 
tory, and will furnish him a posse for that purpose, if so requested ; 
but that we are ready to resist, if need be, unto death, the ravages 
and desolation of an invading mob. 

"J. A. Wakefield, President. 

" John Hutchinsox, Secretary^ 

The same evening (Tuesday, the 13th) Mr. Cox, a pro-slavery 
man, of Lawrence, was requested by one of our leading citizens 
to ascertain from Marshal Donaldson if any peaceable arrange- 
ment could be entered into to prevent his monster posse from 
entering the town. Mr. Cox remained all night with Donaldson, 
and, on his return to Lawrence the next morning, reported the 
following conversation as having passed between himself and 
Marshal D. : 

Mr. Cox asked, "Will you be able to control these men, if 
they enter the town ? " 

The marshal replied, " I don't know that I will." 



THE ATTACK UPON LAWRENCE. 233 

Mr. Cox then asked, " Can anything be done, on the part of 
Lawrence, to prevent your coming in with so large a force ? " He 
replied, " The three following demands must be complied with, 
before I shall consent not to enter Lawrence with all my force. 
First. That every man, against whom a warrant is issued, shall be 
surrendered. Second. All munitions of war, in Lawrence, shall 
be delivered up. Third. That the citizens of Lawrence shall 
pledge themselves implicitly to obey the present enactments of 
Kansas — test-oaths, taxes, and all." 

Upon the receipt of this reply, on the morning of the 14th, the 
citizens immediately held a public meeting. That no means should 
be left untried for the protection of the citizens, — that the mar- 
shal should have no grounds for misapprehension in reference to 
the intentions of the people, — the following letter was prepared 
and sent to the marshal, by Mr. Cox : 

" Lawrence, Maij 14, 1856. 

" J. B. BoNALDSOX, U. S. Marshal for K. T. — Dear Sir : 
We have seen a proclamation issued by yourself, dated 11th May 
inst., and also have reliable information this morning, that large 
bodies of armed men, in pursuance of your proclamation, have 
assembled in the vicinity of Lawrence. 

" That there may be no misunderstanding, we beg leave to ask 
respectfully, that we may be reliably informed what are the de- 
mands against us. We desire to state, most truthfully and ear- 
nestly, that no opposition whatever will now, or at any future 
time, be offered to the execution of any legal process by your- 
self, or any person acting for you. We also pledge ourselves to 
assist you, if called upon, in the execution of any legal process. 

" We declare ourselves to be order-loving and law-abiding citi- 
zens , and only await an opportunity to test our fidelity to the 
laws of the country, the constitution, and the Union. 

" We are informed, also, that those men collecting about Law- 
rence openly declare that their intention is to destroy the town, 
and drive off the citizens. Of course we do not believe you give 
any countenance to such threats ; but, in view of the excited state 
of the public mind, we ask protection of the constituted authori- 
ties of the government, declaring ourselves in readiness to cocJper- 
20* 



234 KANSAS. 

ate with them for the maintenance of the peace, order, and quiet 
of the community in which we live. 

" Very respectfully, 

" Robert Morrow, 
Lyman Allen, 
John Hutchinson." 

On the morning of the fifteenth, Mr. John Hutchinson was 
bearer of a despatch to Col. Sumner, at Fort Leavenworth, re- 
questing him, if he had no power to assist the citizens in defend- 
ing the town, to station a body of troops in the vicinity, that their 
presence might act as a preventative to the sanguinary measures 
with which the mob threaten it. The majority of the investigat- 
ing committee also asked for the interference of Col. Sumner, on 
the sixteenth. To them both the reply was similar : he wished 
he could do something, but he had no power to move without 
orders. Early Thursday forenoon, the fifteenth, Lieut. Gov. W. 
Y. Roberts, C. W. Babcock, and Josiah Miller, went to Lecomp- 
ton to receive Marshal Donaldson's answer. The following is the 
document : 



Office of the U. S. Marshal, 
Lecompton, K. T., May 15, 1856. 



" Messrs. G. W. Dietzler and J. H. Green, Lawrence, K. T. : 
On yesterday I received a communication addressed to me, signed 
by one of you as president, and the other as secretary, purport- 
ing to have been adopted by a meeting of the citizens of Law- 
rence, held on yesterday morning. After speaking of a proclama- 
tion issued by myself, you state, ' That there may be no misunder- 
standing, we beg leave to ask respectfully, that we may be relia- 
bly informed, what are the demands against us. We desire most 
truthfully and earnestly to declare that no opposition whatever 
will now, or at any future time, be offered to the execution of any 
legal process by yourself, or any person acting for you. We also 
pledge ourselves to assist you, if called upon, in the execution of 
any legal process,' etc. 

" From your professed ignorance of the demands against you, I 
aust conclude that you are strangers, and not citizens, of Law- 



THE ATTACK UPON LAWREKCE. 235 

rence, or of recent date, or been absent for some time ; more par- 
ticularly when an attempt was made by my deputy to execute the 
process of the First District Court of the United States for Kan- 
sas Territory, against ex-Gov. Reeder, when he made a speech in 
the room and in the presence of the congressional committee, and 
denied the power and authority of said court, and threatened the 
life of said deputy, if he attempted to execute said process, which 
speech and defiant threats were loudly applauded by some one or 
two hundred of the citizens of Lawrence, who had assembled at 
the room on learning the business of the marshal, and made such 
hostile demonstrations that the deputy thought he and his small 
posse would endanger their lives in executing said process. 

" Your declaration that you ' will truthfully and earnestly offer 
now, or at any future time, no opposition to the execution of any 
legal process,' etc., is indeed difficult to understand. May I ask 
gentlemen, what has produced this wonderful change in the minds 
of the people of Lawrence ? Have their eyes been suddenly 
opened, so that they are now able to see that there are laws in 
force in Kansas Territory, which should be obeyed ? Or is it that, 
just now, those for whom I have writs have sought refuge else- 
where ? Or it may possibly be that you now, as heretofore, ex- 
pect to screen yourselves behind the word ' legal,' so significantly 
used by you. How am I to rely on your pledges, when I am well 
aware that the whole population of Lawrence is armed and drilled, 
and the town fortified — when, too, I recollect the meetings and reso- 
lutions adopted in Lawrence, and elsewhere in the territory, openly 
defying the laws and the officers thereof, and threatening to resist 
the same to a bloody issue, and recently verified in the attempted 
assassination of Sheriff Jones, while in the discharge of his official 
duties in Lawrence ? Are you strangers to all these things? Surely 
you must be strangers at Lawrence. If no outrages have been 
committed by the citizens of Lawrence against the laws of the 
land, they need not fear any posse of mine. But I must take the 
liberty of executing all processes in my hands, as the U. S. Mar- 
shal, in my own time and manner, and shall only use such power 
as is authorized by law. You say you call upon the constituted 
authority of the government for protection. This indeed sounds 



236 KANSAS. 

strange, co ning from a large boclj of men, armed with Sharpe's 
rifles and ether implements of war, bound together by oaths and 
pledges to resist the laws of the government they call on for pro- 
teetion. All persons in Kansas Territory, without regard to loca- 
tion, who honestly submit to the constituted authorities, will ever 
find me ready to aid in protecting them ; and all who seek to resist 
the laws of the land, and turn traitors to their country, will find 
me aiding in enforcing the laws, if not as an officer, as a citizen. 
" Respectfully yours, 

" J. B. DOXALDSOX, 

" United States Marshal of Kansas Territory J^ 

It is unnecessary to characterize it as most heartless and insult- 
ing. Let its spirit of revengeful exultation strike terror into the 
heart of any, who, by word or deed, would aid the purposes of the 
slave power, which, like the deadly upas-tree, casts blight and mil- 
dew over all within its shadow, while its already monstrous growth 
threatens to strike the blow at the foot of all republican liberty. 

Gov. Shannon treated the messengers from Lawrence coldly, 
and would say nothing to them. While Messrs. Ptoberts and Par- 
rott were there, Miller was accosted by Major Clark, to whom Miller 
extended his hand ; but, without taking it, the murderer of Barber 
said, " D — n you, I won't shake hands with you ! I believe you 
published an article in your paper about me. I will settle with 
you to-night." 

As they were returning to Lawrence, a party came out upon 
them, and asked if Miller was among them, and if he was from 
South Carolina. Upon this, Mr. Miller replying that he was, one 
of the banditti said, " Come with us. I am from South Carolina, 
and we have an account to settle with you to-night." Mr. Miller 
showed the pass the marshal had given him ; but the leader said 
' he did n't care a d — n about the marshal." 

They seized and dragged him away, in spite of the protestations 
of Messrs. Babcock and Boberts, and would not allow them to 
accompany their friend. 

Mr. Miller was tried with a mock trial by these South Carolini- 
ans, Br. Stringfellow presiding as judge. The charge was one 



THE ATTACK UPON LAWRENCE. 237 

of treason against South Carolina, and Mr. Miller was released, 
minus his money, revolvers, and horse. 

The communication of the marshal being received in Lawrence, 
all hope of safety from any action of his was at once abandoned. 
The evident design of the authorities was to force the people into 
resistance to the United States authorities, in acts of self-preser- 
vation, or to gain possession of the town by process of law, and 
then give it up to unrestrained outrage. The officers showed no 
disposition to restrain the lawless acts daily committed by their 
" legally authorized militia," and there is no reason to suppose 
they desired to do so. 

At this time, beside the breaking open of goods, robbing and 
plundering, thirty men had been arrested without any legal pro- 
cess, and treated with every indignity, while some still remained 
at the mercy of the robbers. The people of Lawrence, still wish- 
ing peace, made one more effort with the marshal, and on Satur- 
day, the 17th, sent him the following letter : 

" J. B. Donaldson, U. S. Marshal of K. T. — Dear Sir : We 
desire to call your attention, as citizens of Kansas, to the fact that 
a large force of armed men have collected in the vicinity of Law- 
rence, and are engaged in committing depreciations upon our citi- 
zens — stopping wagons, arresting, threatening, and robbing unof- 
fending travellers upon the highway — breaking open boxes of 
merchandise, and appropriating their contents — have slaughtered 
cattle, and terrified many of the women and children. 

" We have also learned from Gov. Shannon, that ' there are no 
armed forces in the vicinity of this place, but the regularly con- 
stituted militia of the territory.' This is to ask you if you rec- 
ognize them as your posse, and feel responsible for their acts. If 
you do not, we hope and trust you will prevent a repetition of such 
acts, and give peace to the settlers. 

" On behalf of the citizens, 

" C. W. Babcock, 
Lyman Allen, 
J. A. Perry." 



238 KANSAS. 

Col. Eldridge, with his brother, being desirous, if possible, to 
f^ave the new hotel, of which he was the proprietor, went to Le- 
compton on the 18th, Sunday. Gov. Shannon talked with them 
of sending for the troops, to have them stationed at Lawrence, to 
protect the citizens from the marshal's mob, while they made the 
arrests ; their arms to be given into the keeping of the troops, 
until the search was over, and the posse gone. This proposition 
was to be made to the people of Lawrence, and the Messrs. El- 
dridge were to return on the morrow to report their decision. This 
they did. The proposal had been acceded to by the citizens of 
Lawrence. 

Grov. Shannon declared, on the 19th, that their arms must be 
delivered to the posse ; that the hotel and printing-presses must 
be destroyed ; else — let the reason of this wise execution of the 
law be taken note of — " the South Carolinians will not be satis- 
fied." The Messrs. Eldridge immediately replied, that " This the 
people of Lawrence will never do ; they will fight first." When 
this partisan governor, the weak tool of South Carolina and Mis- 
souri, leaving the room, said, " Then war it is, by G — d ! " 

On Monday also word came into Lawrence of the murder of a 
young man by the name of Jones, the support of his widowed 
mother. Ee had been to Lawrence for a bag of meal, and, return- 
ing, was ordered to halt, by a band of the marshal 's posse, near 
Blanton's Bridge. He obeyed the order of the ruifianly assassins, 
and they disarmed him. Then they ordered him to proceed, and 
as he did so, two of the posse exclaimed, " Let 's shoot the d — d 
abolitionist ! " Suiting the action to the word, the balls sped on 
their swift errand, and the recording angel wrote against the 
names of some high in power another murder. 

Several young m.en immediately left Lawrence to go to the spot 
where young Jones fell a victim to the bloody tools of slavery • 
and about a mile from Lawrence they met two men from AVest- 
port. Another ball did the bidding of the slave interest, and 
another witness appeared against its supporters in the high court 
where perjury enters not, and packed juries are unknown. 

The body of young Stewart, so lately come among us, was 
brought into town, and laid in the hotel. So sudden was his pas- 



THE ATTACK UPON LAWRENCE. 239 

sage from this to the unseen life, that the placid countenance wore, 
not the aspect of death, but the beautiful repose of a dreamy sleep. 

Illinois furnished the first victim. Will she hear the startled 
cry of young Jones, " God, I am shot ! " and the desolate 
plaint of the widowed one, now mourning like Israel's singer, " My 
son, my son, would God I had died for thee " ? "Will she do her 
uttermost to strike down the black piratical flag, borne aloft by her 
traitorous son, continually hissing, " I will subdue you " ? 

New York, in the murder of one of her young men, is reminded 
of the peril of all who bow nco their knee to the Moloch of 
slavery. 

The Messrs. E. returned to Lawrence. The people still loving 
the United States government, and having declared that they would 
never resist its authority, although the tyranny of the present 
administration is without its parallel in history, they refused all 
the profiered aid of the neighboring settlements, notwithstanding 
ihey well knew that with a small force they could have wiped out 
all these " territorial bands of militia " as easily as the melting 
away of the mist before the sun-rising. 

It was necessary that the peace should be preserved under all 
these provocations, that the whole country might realize the sin- 
cerity of their declarations to obey the general government, not- 
withstanding the upholders of the administration have so loudly 
stigmatized them as " traitors " and " rebels." It was necessary that 
the whole country should be convinced of the real meaning of the 
words, " enforcing the laws," used so often by United States offi- 
cials in the territory, as well as at Washington. 

The proposition was made to have men armed, and at a proper 
distance from Lawrence to protect the inhabitants, should any out- 
rages be attempted after the arrests were made. This seemed 
plausible ; but would the apathetic, money-loving North believe 
this was the real object for which any means of defence had been 
prepared ? Would not the border ruffian papers in the North, even 
the few which taint the moral atmosphere of fair New England, 
howl with another cry of rebellion in Kansas ? So the people of 
Kansas feared ; and the cool, calm heads of Lawrence decided, 
while the pale faces of two unburied victims attested to the malig- 



240 KANSAS. 

nancy of the slave power, and warned them of the imminency of 
their own peril, that, come outrage, pillage and death, at the bid- 
ding of United States officials, they would occupy a right position 
before the American people, and before wondering Europe, who 
sees freedom lie bleeding in a boasted republic. 

Do any charge them with cowardice? Let them leave their 
quiet homes, where just laws hold wicked men in check, and the 
public safety is inviolate, and dwell where continued outrage and 
murder stalk abroad in the light of day, — where the United States 
government counsels violence, and is the real perpetrator of these 
wrongs, — and then, removed from the help of friends, with hordes 
of these vile men threatening their destruction, their extermina- 
tion, lay by all means of self-defence, and with the calm spirit 
of endurance wait the issue. Is there not rather the sublimest 
courage in the act, and a beautiful, silent expression of their faith 
in the eternal law of right; that in reality " our wrongs will be 
our strength ? " Thus the people thought, and, laying by their arms 
in safe places, they waited the action of the United States Mar- 
shal. 

Tuesday, the 20th, was a still, calm day. how calm it was ! 
The hurrying bands of horsemen, brutal in their aspect, and uncouth, 
that had been for days flying over the prairies, making a blot on 
creation's fair face, were nowhere to be seen. No more the vile 
men, in compajpiies of two, three, or more, came spying about the 
dwelling on Mt. Oread, to ask for water, and saying " The head of 
the house is not at home ? " knowing well by what acts of villany 
he was taken prisoner at Lexington, and was yet a prisoner. So 
perfect was the semblance of quiet and peace, that a little party, 
who sat in the evening's twilight, in front of the same dwelling, 
wondered if indeed the threatened evil might not again pass by, 
as on so many previous occasions. A smaller guard than usual 
were actually on the watch. But, when the morning sun arose on 
the 21st of May, 1856, hordes of men, armed with United States 
muskets, were marshalled upon Mt. Oread. While wronged inno 
cence had slept quietly, they in the darkness had gained the height. 
The fair summit of Oread never before witnessed such an assem- 
blage of creatures calling themselves men. Humanity stands 



THE ATTACK UPON LAWRENCE. 241 

aghast at the idea of brotherhood with such a ragged, fil.hy, besot- 
ted set. But it is only tools the slave power wants, and these 
could steal, plunder and kill. What more does the administration 
ask of its supporters in crushing Kansas ? If peace had been 
desired, the United States troops would still have been called into 
service, for in no instance had resistance been offered them. Col. 
Sumner was not the officer whom Gov. Shannon dared ask to bat- 
ter down a civilized town, and destroy presses ; and his soldiers 
have the hearts of men in their bosoms, and, with too little alacrity 
to please government officials in Kansas, have they hunted down 
peaceable men. Hence the governor left them at Leavenworth, 
and relied upon his mongrel crew of Carolinians, Alabamians, and 
Missourians, as better instruments to do his bidding. This is why, 
on the last week of spring, the morning air freighted with perfume 
of flowers, and the carol of birds, on Mt. Oread, was mingled with 
oaths and ribald songs, as it ascended to heaven. Between 
the hours of eight and nine o'clock a part of this band moved 
down from Capitol Hill, above our house, nearer the town, upon the 
table land where the house stood. Runners were sent down to 
Massachusetts-street in the forenoon, and they reported, on their 
return to the hill, " All quiet in Lawrence; the few men there 
busy about their usual employments." The five hundred men on 
Mt. Oread had divided into two parties, one of which surrounded 
our house ; the other planted their cannon on the brow of the hill. 
About eleven o'clock, W. P. Fain, United States Deputy Marshal, 
with eight men, went into the town. They went directly to the 
hotel, and were respectfully received. The marshal summoned 
four prominent citizens of Lawrence to assist him in arresting 
others of our citizens. Without resistance, Judge G . W. Smith 
and G. W. Dietzler were arrested. Col. Eldridge had but just 
removed his family to Lawrence, and this was the first public din- 
ner given in the hotel. Marshal Fain, with his posse and prison- 
ers, partook of the hospitality of the house. Col. Eldridge then 
took the prisoners and a part of the posse to our house, which had 
been taken possession of, by the " legally authorized militia," for 
their head-quarters. The United States Marshal then dismissed 
his monster posse of two hundred and fifty horsemen, and five 
21 



242 KANSAb. 

hundred infantry, telling them " he had no further use for them, 
but Sheriff Jones has writs to execute, and they were at liberty to 
organize as his posse." 

Sheriff Jones, who, through all the border papers, had been 
reported " dead," and " dying," rode forward, and was received 
with yells of applause. He spoke to the motley group of his 
attempted -assassination, and informed them of certain writs in 
his hands, and asked their aid. 

About one o'clock, at the head of a posse of twenty or twenty- 
five mounted men, armed with United States muskets and bayo- 
nets, this immortal sheriff rode into Lawrence, to the door of 
the hotel, and asked for Gen. Pomeroy. This gentleman soon 
answering the summons, Jones said, " I have been resisted sev- 
eral times in this place, and attempts have been made to assas- 
sinate me. Now I am determined to execute the law, if it costs 
me my life. I demand of you, as the most prominent man in the 
place, the surrender of all the cannon and Sharpe's rifles you 
have ; " and, taking out his watch, he added, " I give you five 
minutes to decide whether you will give them up." He said, 
moreover, " I am authorized to make this demand by the First 
District Court of the United States.''^ 

Gen. Pomeroy went to the committee room, and, returning in a 
few minutes, said, "The cannon will be delivered up, but the rifles 
are private property, and will be retained." The cannon was 
taken out of its safe retreat by Gen. Pomeroy. Cheerfully, until 
then, our people had looked on; but it was too humiliating to give 
up this brass six-pounder, which had been welcomed with shouts, 
during the fall invasion, strengthening their means of defence 
when the peril was imminent. The curses of the few free-state 
boys yet remaining in town (most having left when they found no 
defence was to be made) were muttered, but deep, and the dis- 
satisfaction was general. 

In the mean time, the forces, variously estimated from five 
hundred to eight hundred, had been marched down to the base 
of the hill and formed into a hollow square. Gen. D. K. Atchi- 
son made the following speech, which was received by the unceas- 
ing yells of the crowd : 



THE ATTACK UPON LAWRENCE. 243 

<' Boys, this day I am a Kickapoo Ranger, by G — d. This day 
we have entered Lawrence with Southern Rights inscribed upon 
our banner, and not one d — d abolitionist dared to fire a gun. 

" Now, boys, this is the happiest day of my life. We have 
entered that d — d town, and taught the d — d abolitionists a 
Southern lesson that they will remember until the day they die. 
And now, boys, we will go in again, with our highly honorable 
Jones, and test the strength of that d — d Free-State Hotel, and 
teach the Emigrant Aid Company that Kansas shall be ours. 
Boys, ladies should, and I hope will, be respected by every gentle- 
man. But, when a woman takes upon herself the garb of a 
soldier, by carrying a Sharpe's rifle, then she is no longer worthy 
of respect. Trample her under your feet as you would a snake ! 

" Come on, boys ! Now do your duty to yourselves and your 
Southern friends. 

" Your duty, I know you will do. If one man or woman dare 
stand before you, blow them to h — 1 with a chunk of cold lead." 

As soon as he had concluded, the militia moved towards the 
town in solid column, until near the hotel, when the advance com- 
pany halted. Jones told Col. Eldridgo the hotel must be de- 
stroyed ; he was acting under orders ; he had writs issued by the 
First District Court of the United States to destroy the Free- 
State Hotel, and the offices of the Herald of Freedom and 
Free State. The grand jury at Lecompton had indicted them 
as nuisances, and the court had ordered them to be destroyed. 
The following is a copy of such indictment : 

" The Grand Jury sitting for the adjourned term of the First 
District Court, in and for the County of Douglas, in the Territory of 
Kansas, beg leave to report to the Honorable Court that, from evi- 
dence laid before them showing that the newspaper known as The 
Herald of Freedom, published at the town of Lawrence, has from 
time to time issued publications of the most inflammatory and 
seditious character — denying the legality of the territorial 
authorities; addressing and commanding forcible resistance to 
the same ; demoralizing the popular mind, and rendering life and 
property unsafe, even to the extent of advising assassination as a 
last resort. 



244 KANSAS. 

" Also, that the paper known as The Kansas Free State has 
been similarly engaged, and has recently reported the resolutions 
of a public meeting in Johnson County, in this territory, in 
which resistance to the territorial laws even unto blood has been 
agreed upon. And that we respectfully recommend their abate- 
ment as a nuisance. Also, that we are satisfied that the building 
known as the * Free-State Hotel,' in Lawrence, has been con- 
structed with the view to military occupation and defence, regu- 
larly parapeted and portholed for the use of cannon and small 
arms, and could only have been designed as a stronghold of 
"esistance to law, thereby endangering the public safety and en- 
couraging rebellion and sedition in this country, and respectfully 
recommend that steps be taken whereby this nuisance may be 
removed. 

" Owen C. Stewakt, Foreman.''' 

Jones gave Col. Eldridge from that time — about half past three 
o'clock — until five o'clock to remove his family and furniture, 
which it had taken weeks to put in order. Seeing the impossi- 
bility of removing the furniture, Col. Eldridge said, "he had 
bought the furniture to furnish the hotel, not to stand in the 
streets." Longer time for the removal being denied, he said, 
" Give me time to remove my family (a sick daughter being of 
the number), that is ail I ask." A part of the furnitui-e was 
thrown out by the rabble, mirrors and marble-top tables being 
thrown from the windows. The house had been furnished at an 
expense of ten thousand dollars, and was by far the most elegant 
house west of St. Louis. The cellar was stored with provisions, 
advantage having been taken of the high water in the Kansas to 
bring up several months' supply. 

The posse, growing weary of removing furniture, even in the 
expeditious manner of dropping it from the windows, began to 
ransack drawers, cupboards, and cellar, carrjdng with them boxes 
of cigars, wines, oysters, sardines, cans of fruit, etc. 

This " legally organized militia " came into Lawrence with 
banners flying. We thank them heartily, that the United States 
flag was not desecrated by waving over their pollution. They 



THE ATTACK UPON LAWRENCE. 245 

had chosen their banners with singular appropriateness. One 
was a white flag with black stripes, and one had a white star on a 
red surface. This banner bore the inscription " Southern Rights," 
and on the opposite side was " South Carolina " in black paint. 
Another flag had, in blue letters on a white ground, 

'* Let Yankees tremble, abolitionists fall, 
Our motto is give Southern Rights to all." 

The precise bearing of these mottoes upon Marshal Donaldson's 
writs has not yet been explained. 

The Free State office was first destroyed, the press being 
thrown into the river, while exchange papers and books were 
thrown into the street, and destroyed. The types of the Her- 
ald of Freedom office were also put into the Kansas, and the 
press broken. The red flag of the South Carolinians was first 
hoisted upon this office, and in about fifteen minutes was removed 
to the hotel. The building was fired several times, but put out 
by the bravery of some of the young men in Lawrence, who were 
not deterred by the threats of the mob. Sheriif Jones placed two 
companies to carry the types of the offices to the river, and 
break the presses. 

After the red flag had been hoisted upon the hotel, four 
cannons were stationed about one hundred and five feet distant 
from it, and pointing towards it. The first command was given 
to fire, and the balls went far above the hotel, and over into the 
ravine beyond the town. When the cannonading commenced, it 
was thought prudent for women and children to leave the town, 
and many went across the ravine to some houses west of Law- 
rence. Thirty-two balls were fired, doing little damage to the 
hotel, the balls easily going through the concrete. "Was the num- 
ber significant of the admission of Kansas into the sisterhood of 
states ? The walls of the hotel stood firmly, almost uninjured, 
and the patience of the posse, at so slow a progress, was getting 
weary. Their anticipations had been disappointed ; for, on the 
first fire, the cry had been raised, " Now here she goes ! " 

Amid the continued roar of the eighteen, twelve, and six 
21' 



246 KANSAS. 

pounder, the yells were terrific. By all who listened, it is averred 
they never before had heard such unearthly sounds. Some kegs 
of powder were carried into the cellar ; for " law and order " was 
not blind, and the continued display of plunder gained by others 
of the mob excited their covetousness, and a more summary way 
of " removing the nuisance " was desired. The result was only a 
little smoke, and the shivering of a few windows. The order was 
then given to the military commander. Col. Titus, just arrived 
from Florida, to fire the building. By setting fires in each of 
the rooms, the large hotel was destroyed, nearly the entire wall 
falling in. 

At the commencement of the cannonading, Jones had been asked, 
" Can you feel no pity for the sufferings you have caused ? " 

His reply was, " The laws must be executed." And, turning to 
two of his posse, he said, " Gentlemen, this is the happiest day of 
my life, I assure you. I determined to make the fanatics bow 
before me in the dust, and kiss the territorial laws." 

Then, as another round was fired, with a bitter, scornful sneer 
he said, " I have done it, by G — d ! I have done it ! " 

When the walls of the hotel had fallen in, he turned to his 
posse and said, coolly, " You are dismissed ; the writs have been 
executed." 

This was the signal for a general plunder of private houses, and 
as the drunken gang rushed from place to place, they took any- 
thing of value upon which their eyes fell. They rifled trunks, 
taking letters, mone^^ drafts, apparel, both ladies and gentlemen's, 
and destroyed anything that would break, even to daguerreotypes 
and children's toys. Before the day was over, many of the citi- 
zens recognized, upon the before ragged persons of the militia, a 
hat, coat, vest, or pair of pantaloons, to which they had had pre- 
vious title, with some of the heavy curtain-cords and tassels, taken 
from the hotel, worn around them in lieu of sashes ; and, with ex- 
pensive silk or satin dresses on their arms, they marched about, 
evidently elated with their transformation. In many houses, 
whatever they left was mutilated and defaced, and the people, on 
returning to their home?, found only a wreck of those things which 
had condj-jed to their comfort. Stores were broken open. Letters 



THE AlIACK UPON LAWRENCE. 247 

were pilfered from the post-office, and opened. From the same 
building, occupied as a store. Dr. Stringfellow carried off under 
each arm a box of cigars, having helped himself to them behind 
the counter, saying, as he did so, " Well, boys, I guess this is as 
good plunder as I want." He was particularly busy during the 
day in inciting the heroic band to such deeds of valor. Major 
Buford, of Alabama, was also conspicuous as a leader. Mr. 
Hutchinson's store was broken into by Col. Titus, saying, " I 
think there are Sharpe's rifles in there ; stave her in, boys, if 
she is locked ! " They obeyed him by breaking in the windows 
with the butts of their guns, and then crawled in through the 
aperture. 

The cry of "There's Reeder trying to escape!" at one time 
caused some excitement. One of the ruffians, attempting to shoot 
the man, who did not prove to be Gov. Reeder, while his horse 
was on a fall gallop, fell from it and broke his leg. Another was 
killed instantly by the falling of a brick from the hotel. The 
South Carolina flag, waving on the roof, whipped it off one of the 
chimneys. 

Some ladies, sitting upon College Hill west of the town, during 
ihe cannonading, were fired upon by a party of Buford's men, 
who came from town. When about a hundred yards distant, they 
levelled their guns at them deliberately, and, without one word 
being said, fired. The balls went whizzing through the air near 
the ladies. South Carolina's gallant sons then threw down their 
guns and shouted, while swinging their hats, " Hurrah for South 
Carolina ! Down with the abolitionists ! Slavery in Kansas, by 
G— d ! " 

Again they picked up their arms, and levelled them towards 
the ladies, who were standing still, looking at them, when one of 
the four said, " Don't fire ; I would n't." Then, singing Katy 
Darling and Lily Dale, they went up the hill. 

Our house was nearly vacated as night approached, and a 
neighbor passing, stepped in to see how matters looked. Furni- 
ture, which had been thrown out of the house, he set back, and 
finding only one of the Missourians in the lower rooms, and he 
busily engaged in looking for liquors, the way into the cellar, etc. 



248 KANSAS. 

he went up stairs. In one room, a man with gloves on was rum- 
maging bureau drawers. He had a large pile of letters in one 
hand, and a daguerreotype in the other. Trunks which had been 
locked were opened, their contents strewed everywhere, and a fire 
was blazing in the bed. After throwing the bed out of the win- 
dow, this friend went into another chamber, and put out the fire 
which was kindled in a closet. 

This man, so busily prying into bureau drawers and private 
correspondence, was one of the principal men in the " law-and- 
order party." 0, southern honor ! how her gloss has become dim, 
when her chief men, the self-constituted champions of southern 
institutions, attempt to gain their ends by stealing private corre- 
spondence, and pillaging a lady's drawers ! 

About seven o'clock, the semi-human creatures began to leave 
the town. The large covered wagons, which stood near our house 
to receive the spoils, moved off. Houses out of town, which had 
escaped molestation, were opened for the reception of the destitute 
and homeless. 

About nine o'clock the flames burst forth from the home on 
Mt. Oread, and the " legally organized militia " had completed 
their work. Many thousand dollars' worth of property had been 
destroyed. People had been robbed of their all. Lawrence was 
destroyed ; and the President bears the signal honor. Crown his 
brows with asphodel and wormwood, ye xVmerican people, for he 
has wrougVt for your fellow-countrymen bitterness and woe ! 



CHAPTEE XYII. 

THE "KEIGN of TEREOR" IN KANSAS. 

TuE end is not yet. While these outrages were being com- 
mitted, and fiend-like, with hideous yells, these officials rushed 
from spot to spot, to make the ruin complete, the people of Law- 
rence looked on in silence. They could hardly believe that men 
could be so transformed into demons of darkness, or that these 
acts were committed at the instigation of United States appointees. 
But cheerful, for the most part, was the silence. It is ever better 
that the foe one contends with should be clothed in his own pan- 
oply. If that panoply be sin, darkness, degradation, let them form 
the external covering. So, now, the slave power, blood-thirsty, 
and still crying more victims, had sent its own tools, — ragged, 
ignorant, debauched, semi-savages, the very offshoot and growth 
of its peculiar institution, — to destroy a quiet town, to steal, de- 
stroy, and outrage its inhabitants. The work has been accom- 
plished. The first time in the history of the American people 
has an American town been besieged and its inhabitants robbed, 
by forces acting under the instructions of U. S. officers. Every 
outrage committed was in direct violation of that act in the consti- 
tution, which provides for the rights of the people in their persons, 
houses, papers and efiects ; but it was done by the administration, 
acting as the servile tool of the slave power. Can any freeman 
decide what other provision of the constitution cannot as easily 
be set aside, when it stands in the way of the slave power's subdu- 
ing intentions ? Was it ever heard in this country, or in England, 
before the times of Judge Lecompte, that a judge had legal author- 
ity to order the destruction of a press, which the grand jury, under 
his instructions, might find a nuisance ? Are one and all the 



250 KANSAS. 

presses in this country exposed to momentary irruptions upon 
them ? We boast of the freedom of the American press. But 
let the bold assertion that freedom of speech, of action, and the 
press, is the birthright of an American citizen, no longer be 
heard. 

Louis Napoleon gave three distinct and formal warnings, in the 
last French revolution, before dealing the fatal blow. But it was 
reserved for the administration, in the year 1856, in the year of 
our independence the eightieth, to summarily demolish a free press 
as a nuisance, and to bombard a little town on the western fron- 
tier. " 0, shame ! where is thy blush ? " 

If the American people desire the discontinuance of such un- 
precedented horrors, let them wake to the designs of the slave 
interest. Let them shake off the shackles which are continually 
growing more galling. The power which has struck this blow in 
Kansas meditates no less designs on any other part of the free 
North, when the opportune moment arrives. 

Lieut. Warren D. Wilkes, of the South Carolina banditti, one 
of the self-constituted regulators in the territory, wrote the follow- 
ing to the Charleston Mercury : 

"The importance of securing Kansas for the South may be 
briefly set forth in a positive and negative form : 

" 1. By consent of parties, the present contest in Kansas is 
made the turning point in the destinies of slavery and abolition- 
ism. If the South triumphs, abolitionism will be defeated and 
shorn of its power for all time. If she is defeated, abolitionism 
will grow more insolent and aggressive, until the utter ruin of the 
South is consummated. 

" 2. If the South secures Kansas, she will extend slavery into 
all territory south of the fortieth parallel of north latitude, to the 
Rio Grande, and this of course will secure for her pent-up insti- 
tutions of slavery an ample outlet, and restore her power in Con- 
gress. If the North secures Kansas, the power of the South in 
Congress will be gradually diminished ; the states of Missouri, 
Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas, together with the 
adjacent territories, will gradually become abolitionizecl, and the 
slave population, confined to the states east of the Mississippi, will 



THE "REIGN OF TERROR" IN KANSAS. 26l 

Oecome valueless. All depends upon the action of the present 
moment." 

On the 22 J of May, the Platte County Klfle Company — one 
hundred armed horsemen, under the lead of Gen. D. E. Atchison 
— passed through Lawrence, over the ferry, on their way back to 
Missouri. They clenched their guns nervously, but no one offered 
them any molestation. In safety they passed through the town 
they had helped to devastate. 

The threats of the men were bitter against the hotel at Kansas city. 
Murder and robbery were the order of the day. The horses and other 
property of free-state men were continually pillaged by the " chiv- 
alry," and travelling in the territory was unsafe. When the "mili- 
tia " left Lawrence on the 21st of May, it was with the design of 
attacking Topeka. But a messenger having been despatched to Gov. 
Shannon, at Lecompton, with a report that " Topeka was on the 
march to destroy Tecumseh," Gov. Shannon sent to Col. Sumner 
for troops to be stationed at Topeka, to preserve order. An ap- 
peal had previously been sent to him from the citizens of Topeka, 
but they had no expectation of the granting of their request. 

After Lawrence was destroyed, Gov. Shannon ordered troops 
there also to preserve the peace. A part of the "militia," after 
leaving the sack of Lawrence, proceeded to Fish's, the Shawnee 
Indian's. Having put him under guard, they robbed his house 
and store, took everything which could be eaten from his house, 
tore up the fences, and took his horses from the wagons. The 
reason was, his sympathies were with the free-state men. 

A party of the southern youth encamped between Kansas city 
and Westport, and robbed all teams which passed, even stopping 
the mail, and examining the way-bill, on the 20th, 22d and 
23d of May. Capt. H. C. Pate was the leader of the gang. Ho 
examined papers, trunks, valises and carpet-sacks. He obliged 
some of the passengers to take off their boots, that he might look 
into them. One passenger, upon whom he found a letter, he 
detained. When the driver grew impatient, and would have gone 
along, a man passed around in front of the horses, and presented 
a pistol at him. Coleman, the murderer, also threatened the mail- 
carrier so repeatedly that he spoke to Col. Boone, P. M. at 



252 KANSAS. 

WestportjOf the matter, and he advised him to leave the line, and 
get some one else to drive in his place, as " Coleman vras a des- 
perate man." 

While such outrages were being committed between Kansas 
city and Lawrence, the reign of terror was complete at Leaven- 
worth. On the morning of the 28th an exciting extra, issued at 
the office of the Westport News, headed " War ! War ! " was received 
at Leavenworth. The ruffians immediately held a secret session, 
and appointed themselves a vigilance committee. All persons, 
who could not answer " All right on the goose," according to 
their definition of right, were searched, kept under guard, and 
threatened with death by the rope or rifle. A company, under 
the lead of Warren D. Wilkes, of South Carolina, armed with 
United States muskets and bayonets, were paraded through the 
different streets of the town. They surrounded the house where 
a portion of the investigating committee boarded, while two or 
three entered and took prisoner Judge M. F. Conway, who was 
acting for the committee in the capacity of clerk. Forming a 
hollow square, and placing him in the centre, they marched 
through several streets. As they passed the office of Miles 
Moore, the Attorney General under the free-state constitution, 
they arrested him, also M. J. Parrott, a law partner of Moore. 
Mr. Sherman, one of the investigating committee, was convers- 
ing with them at the time, and Mr. Sherman inquired of Wilkes 
" if he had arrested one of the clerks of the committee upon 
any legal process." He replied, " he had not, but, at all 
hazards, he should arrest those whose names he had on his list." 

Attacks were nightly threatened upon the houses of those free- 
state men who had stood firmly by their principles, and the 
committee were in hourly danger of violence. A threatening 
message was sent them with the significant signature of " Capt. 
Hemp." Violence had been contemplated both against the com- 
mittee and my husband. It was rather too bold a step to attack 
the United States officials. 

The exact state of things at this time may be better realized by 
statements of prisoners in the camp of the invaders. Di Root 
and Mr. Mitchell had been taken prisoners about the 15th May 



THE ''reign of terror" IN KANSAS. 253 

being fired upon by a part of the marshal's posse. The balls 
whizzed about :hem fearfully, and finally they reined in their mules 
and asked the reason of such a murderous fire. Their answer 
was substantially that, in firing before ordering a halt, they had 
acted in obedience to the marshal's orders. The prisoners were 
taken by the rufiians one mile and a half to the encampment, and 
their pistols and valuable papers were taken from them by Capt. 
John Donaldson, the auditor. They were then put under guard. 
The reason of their detention was not given, but a promise was 
made that they should be told in the morning. Letters which 
Mr. Mitchell was carrying from the mail at Lawrence, to a friend, 
and sujDposed to contain several hundred dollars, were taken from 
him. 

The next forenoon they were ordered to appear in the august 
presence of Dr. Stringfellow, who, however, gave no reason for the 
detention, but stated that he was acting wholly under the command 
of the United States Marshal. Sometimes they had two meals a 
day, and sometimes were deprived of food for twenty-four hours. 
The consolation, that " prisoners often fared worse, and they 
deserved to be hung," was freely given. On the fifth day of 
their imprisonment, having fasted twenty-four hours, the ruffians 
ordered Mr. Mitchell to cook something for himself and Dr. Root. 
On his declining to do so, never having been educated in the 
culinary department, he was commanded to appear immediately 
at Dr. Stringfellow's tent. There he was pressed upon by officers 
and men, crying " Kill the d — d rascal ! " " Hang him, hang him ! " 
At the same time a rope was thrown over his head, the men 
springing for the other end. Mr. Mitchell, being of agile motions, 
avoided this new test of the mercy of the ruffians. Seven prison- 
ers were in camp at this time, whom Dr. Stringfellow insulted by 
asking the most disgusting questions, such as " Would you steal a 
nigger ? " " Would you sleep with a nigger ? " etc. The prin 
cipal theme of conversation, in the camp was the proposed de 
struction of Lawrence. 

The night before the bombarding, the prisoners were marched 
about six miles, and within two miles of Lawrence, being guarded 
on all sides by United States muskets in the hands of Southerners 



254 KANSAS. 

and Missourians. The ground was wet with heavy dew, and, as 
they reached the tent about nine o'clock, without any blanket 
under or over them, they were obliged to take what rest such ac- 
commodations and such surroundings might afford. After the 
marshal's posse had finished breakfast, they were drawn up into a 
hollow square, and into this Marshal Donaldson and Gen. D. H. 
Atchison were introduced. The red flag, with the lone white star, 
and " Southern Rights " and " South Carolina," floated over them. 
The marshal gave his orders for the day, and loud hurrahs rent 
the air. Then " Old Dave " was greeted with yells terrific. 
The green prairies almost trembled with the hideous sound. The 
tall form of him who had been vice-president of the United States 
was seated on his beautiful horse, now waving this hand, and 
now that, as he pointed first to their southern homes, and then 
to the doomed city. Surrounded by the restless mass of brutal 
men, he urged them on to deeds of violence, " not to leave it or 
the territory until they have quenched out every vestige of free- 
state principles." 

A little time more elapsed, when the cavalry under the com- 
mand of Col. Titus, Major Clarke, etc., came up from Lawrence, 
where they had been to learn of their defences. They reported 
there were no signs of defence, and there was exceeding joy mani- 
fested ; this kind of fighting suited them. Before noon all the 
posse had left the camp, save about twenty-five in charge of the 
prisoners. At about three o'clock. United States Marshal Don- 
aldson came and asked for the prisoners of the sergeant, who^ 
fired upon them at the time of the arrest, and others stand- 
ing by. He asked the reason of their detention with all the dig- 
nity his office imposed upon him. No one was able to make any 
charge against them. His orders alone were the occasion of the 
detention. When arrested, the following receipt was given for 
articles taken : " Dr. J. P. Root, one mule, bridle, saddle, two 
Whitney's revolvers, brass spurs, blanket, lariettes." 

The following general order was given : " Capt. Donaldson and 
other captains will release all the within named prisoners immedi- 
ately after the ro3eption of this order, and all their property to 
be restored to than without delay." 



THE ''REIGN OF TERROR" IN KANSAS. 255 

There was a Iso this order : 

" Let Dr. J. P. Root pass immolested. He is entitled to receive 
his mule, sac'.dle, bridle, spurs, blanket, lariettes, and two Whit- 
ney's revolvers. 

" J. B. Donaldson, 
" May 21, 1856. U. S. Marshal:' 

Addressed to " Captain J. Bonelson, Present:'' 

The release was effected as the firing upon the hotel commenced ; 
and against the advice of the U. S. Marshal, who saw danger 
in the attempt to go to Lawrence, they made their way thither. 
When half way there they met the sergeant who arrested them 
at first. With an appearance of sincerity, he advised them not 
to enter into the besieged town, as "he knew the men better than 
they did, and it was not safe for them to go further." In the con- 
versation with the U. S. Marshal, something in regard to the 
fare they had received was said by the guard, when a native of 
fair Erin, who was an officer of the day, stepped forward, and, in 
a low, rich brogue, with hand uplifted, and in a truly dramatic 
style, said, " This abuse these men have received is registered in 
heaven." 

On the 22d, Dr. Root, accompanied by Mr. Mitchell, visited 
Marshal Donaldson at Lecompton, to recover their property. The 
marshal had acknowledged, by his orders, his responsibility in the 
arrest and robbery, but he refused to give up the goods. While 
there Dr. Root saw a bill of sundries charged to the U. S. Mar- 
shal's posse. The whole bill amounted to $370 85, which com- 
prised whiskey at $1 00 per gallon, and French brandy at $8 00 
per gallon. The bill was accepted, and no fault found except for 
a charge of five gallons of whiskey, which at first was claimed not 
to have been received. While they sat in the office of the mar- 
shal, Col. Titus and a man by the name of Elliot came in. Titus 
with oaths, was talking about Capt. Walker, a brave free-state 
man, a native of Ohio. . He said "he would have his head, 
on or off his shoulders, and for it he would give any man five 
hundred dollars." In this his faithful ally, Elliot, joined, and 
the marshal, as usual, ready to do the vile work of killing honora- 



256 KANSAS. 

ble men, said, " K you wisli it I will send a posse immediately 
for him." It is suck men as these who receive from the gov- 
ernment daily wages in the glorious employment of hunting, rob- 
bing and killing innocent men, on this western soil. 

The principal officers in the camp were D. R. Atchison, Col. 
Buford, Col. Abel (law partner of Glen. Stringfellow), Dr. String- 
fellow, Col. Titus, and other men of similar stamp. Such are the 
men, residents of Missouri, and Gleorgians, and Floridians, just 
arrived in the territory, upon whom Marshal Donaldson called to 
assist him in " enforcing the laws." 

Information being reliably received by Capt. Walker that his 
house was to be burned by the " law-and-order " party, a few 
neighbors gathered to protect it. About midnight a party of 
twelve men came down the Lecompton road, and halted in front of 
the house. As they were fastening their horses to the paling, the 
party in the house fired upon them, killing a horse in the gatewaj^, 
and severely wounding one man. In the scattering of the " law- 
and-order " party which followed, two or three hats, several bowie- 
knives, and two Sharpe's rifles, taken at the sack of Lawrence, 
were left as relics. Also a part of a coat-skirt, with a bottle of 
whiskey in the pocket, was left hanging to the paling, which gave 
the impression of the owner's having made a desperate leap for 
life. Gov. Shannon's son was of the party. 

The next day. Gov. Shannon made himself busy drinking whis- 
key, and outraging peaceable citizens in their own houses. He 
and his party, Col. Titus and confreres, were met upon the Califor- 
nia road by several ladies, and Gov. Shannon was so drunk he 
reeled backward and forward on his horse, scarcely keeping his 
seat. Upon reaching home, he staggered around, holding upon the 
furniture to keep himself from falling. He was busy feeling mat- 
tresses, peeping into closets, emptying trunks, looking under beds, 
and used language which shocked those obliged to listen. 

At the house of a Mr. Hazeltyne, which he visited in this drunken 
condition, he inquired of Mrs. Hazeltyne for her husband ; upon 
her replying that she did not know where he was, the Governor 
of Kansas Territory replied, " I '11 cut his d — d black heart out 
of him, and yours too, madam, if you don't take care." Gov. Shan- 



THE *' REIGN OF TERROR " IN KANSAS. 257 

non called the same day at the house of Capt. Thomes, and the 
following conversation passed between Gov. Shannon and the wife 
and little daughter of Capt. Thomes. As Gov. Shannon rode up 
to the house with his men, he asked for water, and then said : 

" Who lives here ? " 

Daughter. — " Capt. Thomes." 

Gov. S. — " What is he captain of, — Walker's company ? " 

" No, sir, he is a sea-captain." 

"Where is he?" 

" Gone to Lawrence." 

" What has he gone to Lawrence for ? To get up a company, eh ? " 

'' No, sir, gone to get lumber to fence his claim with." 

" Fence his claim with lumber ? Eh? Well, m^y girl, I am Gov. 
Shannon." 

At this time Mrs. Thomes came to the door from the garden, 
where she had been at work. Her daughter gave her an introduc- 
tion to the governor, but she declined taking his extended hand, on 
the plea of her soiled hands. 

Gov. Shannon replied, " Never mind, madam, give me your 
hand." 

A similar conversation to the above passed, when the governor 
said, " I am around to see who is who, who to have killed, and 
who not." 

Mrs. Thomes said, " Gov. Shannon, I hope you won't kill me 
nor mine." 

" No, no, madam, you are peaceable citizens, an't ye, eh? " 

" Yes, sir, we try to be." 

The governor, wheeling his horse, called to Col. Titus to come 
forward. " Colonel, I want you to take particular notice of these 
premises, and not have this family harmed. Do you hear, eh ? " 

" Who did you say live here ? " 

« Capt. Thomes." 

Col. Titus promised protection. Then Gov. Shannon addressed 
Mrs. Thomes again. " Madam, tell your husband to come to 
Lecompton and see me ; he may rest assured that he will find a 
warm-hearted friend in me." He added further, " I am out to put 
a stop to these G — d d — d guerilla parties." 
22=^ 



258 KANSAS. 

On the last day of May^ an attack was made by some Georgi- 
ans on the house of Mr. Storrs, who lived nine miles from Law- 
rence. Since the sacking of Lawrence, they had been encamped 
in that region. They came early in the morning, driving before 
them a man who lived with Mr. Storrs, and had been out to hunt 
the cattle, firing upon him three times. They demanded that a 
very valuable horse standing near should be given up. Mrs. Storrs 
asked, " By what authority ? " The captain of the robbers replied, 
" By the authority of Gov. Shannon, and if she said a word, he 
would shoot her ; he would kill every d — d abolitionist in the 
territory." They took the horse. The family for safety moved to 
Lawrence. Horses were continually being pressed into the gov- 
ernor's service, taken from teams on the highway, and in the fur- 
row. 

At one place, when the presence of some young ladies seemed to 
have some efiect upon the chivalry, they declaring " they should 
return to Alabama in the fall, and would like to take some wives 
with them," the horses were left. They said, however, " they 
didn't know what the old man (meaning Gov. Shannon) would 
say, if he knew they did so." 

Arrests are in no instance made of the men who commit such 
outrages ; none of the Georgians attacking and destroying pri- 
vate dwellings, none of the Lecompton gentry who make midnight 
sallies upon quiet settlers, ever being arrested ; but, per contra, 
warrants were issued for all who were known to be concerned in 
defending Capt. Walker's house. 

Such is " law and order " in Kansas, whose governor, drunken 
and debauched, insults women in their own dwellings, with lan- 
guage too profane for insertion here, and heads gangs for searching 
sett^ 3rs' homes. 



CHAPTER Xyill. 

ARREST OF G. JENKINS AND G. W. BROWN. 

On the 14th of May, about two o'clock in the morning, as Mr. 
Jenkins and G. W. Brown were returning to their homes iu Law- 
rence, they were arrested by armed men, between Kansas city and 
Westport, and taken to the house of Milton McGee, a most bitter 
pro-slavery man. The same forenoon they were taken to the 
Harris house, in Westport, and placed under strong guard in rooms 
in the third story. Mrs. Jenkins, having received word from her 
husband, left Lawrence on Friday, p. m., the 16th, in a driving 
rain, and reached Westport, Saturday, p. m., about four or five 
o'clock. Mr. Jenkins' brother accompanied her. She found her 
husband quite ill from fatigue and excitement, his strength having 
been impaired before leaving home by the watching and anxiety 
attending the severe illness of one of his children, as well as by 
the ill-treatment he had since received. Mrs. Jenkins laid aside 
bonnet and shawl. Crowder, a man who pretended to be one of 
the deputy marshals, had just been in the room to say that the 
papers they were expecting from Kansas city, in reference to Mr. 
Jenkins' release, had not come, and they would stay at Westport 
another night. Scarcely had he gone out, when Mr. Jenkins, see- 
ing his horse in the street, a valuable one, which they had taken 
from him the night he was taken prisoner, went down with his 
guard to see if he could not have it restored to him. Mrs. Jenkins 
seated herself in one of the deep window-seats, and looked out 
upon the motley group in the street. A hack drove around to the 
door, and the loud, harfchly-spoken words, " Come along," attracted 
her attention. The moment she looked her husband was literally 
pushed into the carriage by several m.en. Sick as he was, no 



260 KANSAS. 

time was given to get his overcoat, for which he asked. Almost 
flying down the two stairways, Mrs. Jenkins arrived at the door 
only in time to see the carriage drivuig away. She ran to Mrs. 
Brown's room, who had arrived in Westport one day before her, 
and Mr. Brown too was gone. He had been called down stairs on 
some trivial pretence, and was also forced into the hack. Mrs. 
Jenkins inquired of Mr. Harris and others where they were going, 
and why they were taken away in such a hurried manner. To all 
of which questions they gave indefinite answers, or plead igno- 
rance. Before this, however, another hack had driven to the door, 
with fine, large horses, and the gentleman promised Mrs. Brown he 
would take her to her husband. He said, "he would drive on 
until he overtook the other hack." Upon Mrs. Jenkins asking, 
" if he would take her too," he replied in the affirmative ; wlien a 
loud dispute arose among the besotted crowd, and threats of " We 
will shoot you, if you attempt to carry these ladies, and we '11 
shoot you, if you get into that carriage," resounded on every side, 
with brutal imprecations mingled. The man, however, took his 
seat in the carriage, and asked Mrs. Brown to get in also ; but, as 
he said at this time he would only take her, she declined going. 
Mrs. Jenkins then found her brother. He harnessed the horses 
quickly, which had scarcely been put in the stable, and they started 
in pursuit of the party. By asking of persons whom they met, 
" if they had seen a hack," they found they were on the track, 
and, about two miles from Westport, they overtook the carriage, 
stopped by the way, and its escort of twenty men preparing supper. 
As they drove up by the side of the carriage, and the astonished 
posse saw who they were, loud and bitter were the curses. They 
were told they should not stay with their husbands ; but Mrs. 
Jenkins, excited by fears for her husband's safety, by the strange 
movements of the mob, as well as by his haggard looks, induced 
by constant illness for the last few days, as soon as her carriage 
ceased moving, was in the other with her husband. She did not 
wait for the convenience of open doors, but made her entrance 
through the window. Mrs. Brown also soon entered it, while the 
posse continually declared the ladies " should not remain in the 
hack." They said " if the ladies would return to Westport, where 



ARREST OF G. JENKINS AND G. W. BROWN. 261 

they could have comfortable quarters for the night, they could 
reach them in the morning before they should leave." Or, if they 
would go on to "Donaldson's (a stopping-place for travellers), they 
would call for them in the morning." 

But the reply of the ladies was the same : " We will remain by 
our husbands, and share their accommodations." The distress of 
the ladies, occasioned by the strange conduct of the men, at last 
softened somewhat their hearts. They brought them supper, and 
said " they would use their influence with Capt. Pate, when he 
should come from Westport, that they should not be separated 
from their husbands." The hack-driver declared, with feeling, 
" they should have the carriage to themselves." 

The difficulty which had been suggested by the men, of there 
being a want of room for all the posse, should the ladies remain 
in the hack, was at once remedied by Mr. J.'s offer of their car- 
riage and his brother to drive it. The matter was at last adjusted, 
and the cortege^ forgetful of their declaration, made again and 
again, that this was to be their camping-ground for the night, 
moved on. Horsemen in front, at the sides, and in the rear, 
guarded the prisoners in the hack. Instead of passing Donald- 
son's, where they had desired the ladies to sleep, promising to call 
for them in the morning, they took the Santa Fe road. Not long 
after they started, two horsemen, who always rode some distance 
in front of the rest, as a kind of scout, turned suddenly, and upon 
full gallop returned to the party. They reported a large body of 
men advancing towards them, and they apprehended an attack. 
*' Halt ! " was the word of command, given by the gallant Capt. 
Pate ; " form into line ! " followed with other orders in quick succes- 
sion. For the advantage of all other brave men in similar circum- 
stances, let the facts be stated. The men were drawn up in readiness 
for battle behind the carriage in which were seated the prisoners. 
Thus, breastworks were formed against the approaching enemy. 
The courageous band waited. They lingered. No foe came. 
The two horsemen again went out a short distance. They wheeled 
and galloped in furiously. They reported no enemy in sight. 
Some fence stakes, in the distance, had probably looked to their 
excited imaginations like so many legions. They reached an 



262 KANSAS 

Indian house about two o'clock, a. m., and, with oaths and curses 
which made the listener shudder, the posse attempted to sleep on 
the wet ground, while the occupants of the hack got some rest, 
although anxieties and suspense made sleep broken, and of little 
worth. Breakfast of fat bacon and corn bread could hardly be 
eaten. Tliere was no way to wash their faces but in a brook 
near by, using handkerchiefs for towels. In the afternoon of that 
day they stopped a little time at a trading post on the Santa Fe 
road, and a pleasant house. Mrs. J. procured some medicine for 
her husband, and he felt somewhat recruited after an half hour's 
sleep on the lounge. They reached Blue Jacket's, at the crossing 
on the "Wakarusa, towards night on Sunday the 18th, having been 
part of the night and nearly all the day reaching a point which 
might have easily been gained on the usually travelled road in 
five hours. They had supper there. From this place word was 
sent to the camp at Franklin of the arrival of the posse at Blue 
Jacket's, and thirty men came down to meet them. The heavy 
rain of the Friday preceding had completely flooded the low 
grounds of the Wakarusa, and it is impossible to describe the 
ludicrous appearance of the newly-arrived escort, as they ploughed 
their way along, first knee-deep in water, then as deeply sinking 
in the heavy, deceitful mud. The party arrived at Franklin, and, 
as they halted before the log cabin, christened hotel, the gathered 
crowd, which the camp near by had emptied forth, was large and 
full of curiosity. Repeatedly the prisoners, still seated in the 
hack, heard their curiosity syllabled forth in " AVhich is Jenkins?" 
and "Is that Brown?" Their prying looks exceeded far the 
bounds of etiquette. The proposal was again made and urged 
that the ladies should sleep in the house ; but their decisive reply, 
" Accommodations which are good enough for our husbands are 
good enough for us," settled the matter, and the hack, with its 
curtains lowered, again answered for a sleeping apartment. 

The prisoners with their wives went to the house when break- 
fast was read}^, with a strong guard of " guns " on all sides of 
them, themselves being the centre of a hollow square. A disturb- 
ance arose here among the guard, as to who should sit at the first 



ARREST OF G. JENKINS AND G. W. BROWN. 263 

table. The landlady's ire was a little aioused, but the difficulty 
was settled without an appeal to arms. 

Monday morning, the 19th, the cavalcade, with a large addi- 
tional guard, making in all about one hundred men, started for 
the main camp, some twelve miles distant. This group of men was 
made up of all kinds. There were a few young men of education, 
accustomed to the refinements of life, and others brutal and igno- 
rant. Their dirty dress gave to them an elfish look, and many 
lookers-on declared they had not supposed God's beautiful earth 
contained such desperate, brutal-looking men. They were obliged 
to pass along the prairie only a mile south of Lawrence, and, as 
they approached the long, stdcp hill on the California road, a 
quarter of a mile beyond Mt. Oread, they sent scouts all over the 
hills. They commenced whipping their horses at the base, and, 
as one of the prisoners expressed it, " they went kiting up the 
hill, and for nearly a mile after the summit had been gained." 

Many of this posse had never been in the territory before, and, 
as they looked at Lawrence and its surroundings, of river flowing 
beneath the dim forests, the beautiful uplands and emerald slopes, 
and the distant highlands surging against the azure sky, like the 
deep blue ocean-wave, they broke forth in exclamations of rap- 
ture and delight. But Lawrence, with her large stone buildings, 
and little homes, made rich in experience of the past and hope for 
the future, was doomed — yes, doomed to destruction! for the 
strong arm of the government so willed it, and the wail of its 
desolation has gone up to Heaven against its officials, who, by 
their base proclamations, had brought this infamous horde upon 
us. 

About two miles from Lawrence, a Mr. W^ passing near his 
home, hunting for his cattle, was made to dismount by the posse 
and give up his horse to them. They reached Judge Wakefield's 
at two o'clock, p. M., and Capt, Donaldson, who seemed to have the 
command at this time, went into the house, then returned to the 
hack with a lady who was stopping there. She invited the ladies 
to remain with them over night ; but, firm in their determination to 
stay by their husbands until forced from them, they declined th*e 
invitation, and went with the posse to the camp, one and a half 



264 KANSAS. 

miles distant. As the cavalcade approached the tents, hundreds 
of men, unwashed and unshorn, cursing and reeling in their ine- 
briation, came around the carriage. Dr. Stringfellow was the 
ojficcr of the day of this " law-and-order " crowd. He ordered 
the prisoners to alight, and immediately closed the doors upon 
their wives. Their tears fell like rain, and, distinctl}^ above the 
cursino;, that " all should be served alike," " men and women 
should be strung up together," were heard their sobs, which came 
from hearts near bursting. The suspense, the untold weight of 
bitterness crowded into these moments of separation from their 
husbands, having fearful reason to suppose it was the last earthly 
parting, cannot be measured in words. But Stringfellow was 
inexorable. He said " the northern press would say he had taken 
women prisoners, and it should not be said." When the hearts 
of some of the invaders had softened at their distress, and they 
promised to do all they could for the protection of the prisoners, 
Dr. Stringfellow said, "Mark my words ; if any resistance is 
offered at Lawrence, or any attempt made to rescue the prisoners, 
the orders are to shoot them first of all." 

Mrs. J. asked him, " could she be safe in driving a team to 
Lawrence and back again, to bring some bedding and clean clothes 
for Mr. J. ? " Stringfellow said yes, but she soon learned that the 
span of large bay horses and the carriage she had already there, 
were " pressed " into the service, and could not be taken from 
camp. Mr. J.'s brother had been driven away at the point of 
the bayonet. She, with Mrs. B., then returned to Judge Wake- 
field's in the Westport hack, whose driver ofi'ered them seats. 
Taking his horses from the plough. Judge W. sent a son to carry 
the ladies to Lawrence. They returned as quickly as possible, 
and, before sundown, through the wet grass, with clean clothing on 
their arms, they went to the camp. The carriage-bed was car- 
ried into the tent to keep them from the wet ground, and, with 
some comfortables, a bed was made. The ladies then returned 
to Judge W.'s. About two o'clock a. m., Mr. Jenkins also ar 
rived there, having been released. His horses had broken from 
the camp, and, during the night, Judge W.'s horses had been 
stolen. Mr. J. went to Lawrence on foot, and returned with 



ARREST OF G. JENKINS AND G. VV. BROWN. 265 

another pair of horses for his wife. He recovered, on his second 
trip down, the bay horses. The fine horse first stolen he has 
never been able to recover, notwithstanding an order given him by 
those in authority, at the time it was taken. 

This was Tuesday, the 20th. Mrs. Brown went over to the 
camp early ; and her husband was already on horseback, sur- 
rounded by a guard of mounted men, to be taken to Lecompton. 

On the afternoon of the 21st, after Judge Smith and Gr. W. 
Deitzler had been taken to the " head-quarters," the house on 
Mount Oread, Mr. Jenkins was again taken prisoner. He was 
taken from his bed, being wholly exhausted with his illness and 
fatigue, and with the rest carried to Lecompton. On the morning 
of the 22d of May they appeared before Judge Lecompte to 
answer to the charge of treason. The cases were continued until 
the second Monday in September. A request to be discharged on 
bail was made and denied. The crime was alleged to have been 
committed on the 1st, 17th, and 21st of May. Gr. W. Brown 
and Mr. Jenkins proved that nearly the whole time they were in 
the hands of the mob, who held them without warrant or law, 
and a part of the time in Missouri. Gr. W. Brown had been for 
weeks absent from the territory, and was returning to his home 
when arrested. Judge G. W. Smith had been only four days in 
the territory since the last of January. He had always recom- 
mended resistance to the laws through the legal tribunals. Gr. W. 
Deitzler also showed his position to be similar. Should bail have 
been allowed, the design for which they were taken prisoners 
would have been frustrated, viz., that of leaving the people 
without some of their leading and active men, that more easily 
the whole free-state movement might be crushed. 

Mrs. J. and B. went to Lecompton on the 22d. They, with 
the four prisoners, had one small room in a frame house, the 
guard occupying the other room. Mrs. J. and Mrs. B. were 
allowed to take their meals at the public house, while those of the 
prisoners were sent to them. Thus, in a little room, in the intense 
heat, six persons were obliged to stay, night and day. The threats 
of mobbing them were also so great that Marshal Donaldson slept 
one night in the house, and another sat up on the outside. Mrs. J. 
23 



266 KANSAS. 

went to Lawrence on the 23d, returning tlie next day with some 
articles to add to the comfort of the prisoners, such as bedding, 
luncheon, water-pails, wash-basins, soap, towels, etc. The few 
days they had been in Lecompton, notwithstanding their frequent 
request of the marshal, they had only a two-quart pail for water ; 
and, in making their toilet, they had had to pour water into their 
hands, and use handkerchiefs for towels. Mrs. J. says, " You 
never saw a more pleased set of fellows than they were when they 
saw the pails, soap, and towels." On the 26th the marshal 
proposed to Mrs. J. and Mrs. B. to board the prisoners, as the 
house they were in must be given up. They concluded to do it, 
thinking to make them more comfortable ; and the next day, 
towards night, Mrs. J. returned from Lawrence with her span of 
white mules, which have been in her service ever since, going. 
to Lawrence for provisions once or twice a week. She brought 
everything needed to commence housekeeping in a tent. The 
tent was already up ; the stove soon was set ; and, by all lending 
a helping hand, the supper was soon prepared. To shade the 
table, poles were set, and quilts and blankets thrown over them. 
To sit down once more at a table, and eat of food cooked in a 
home-like way, brought a ray of sunshine to the prisoners' hearts. 

The military officer in command was of strong southern pro- 
clivities, and, one would judge from his words and manner, of 
unpleasant nature. The prisoners were not allowed to see their 
friends. When Mrs. B. returned, after an absence of a few 
days, he made loud complaints, saying " he wished they woula 
either stay out or stay in." 

Mrs. J. suggested the marshal's request, and that " if they 
boarded them, they must have provisions." 

He replied, in a surly, insulting way, " We can find some one 
to get provisions, and you can stay away altogether." 

A lady from Lawrence carried up the mail. While she was 
allowed to see the prisoners only at a distance, the officer care- 
fully took from the papers the New York Tribune, allowing the 
rest to go in. Upon whose soul rests the sin of these indignities 
offered to peaceable, honorable men, and of the sufferings caused 
to innocent women ? 



AEREST OP GOV. ROBINSON. 



ARREST or GOV. ROBINSON. 



267 



My husband and myself left Lawrence, on his way to Wash- 
ington, in the public hack for Kansas city. We reached that 
point about six o'clock. The Star of the West, Capt. Dix com- 
manding, soon after came down the river ; and the doctor imme- 
diately went on to the boat, entered his name en the clerk's book, 
•and procured a state-room. AYe^ remained at the hotel over 
night, and took passage on the boat the next morning about six 
and a half o'clock. There were very few passengers ; everything 
was quiet ; and we were making a quick trip. In the afternoon we 
procured some books, and went into our state-room. From reading 
we soon fell asleep. At Lexington I was awakened by a noise as 
of many coming on to the boat. It having subsided somewhat, 
I was drowsing again, when the captain came to our state-room 
door, opening upon the guard, with a red-faced, excitable-looking 
person, of short stature, whom he introduced to my husband as 
Gen. Shields. AVhether this title of General was acquired by Mr. 
Shields' visit to the territory at the time of the " Shannon War," 
last December, or whether it arose from the necessity which 
western men seem to feel, that of bearing some title, I have been 
quite unable to learn. That he was prominent in inciting that 
invasion, as well as others in the territory, is true. Another 
person, of larger figure, and more quiet, dignified air, came soon, 
and was introduced as Mr. Bernard, of Westport. After stating 
" they had come upon an unpleasant errand," they proceeded to 
state its purport — that of detaining my husband in Lexington, 
as he was fleeing from an indictment. He assured them such was 
not the case; that he had at all times been in Lawrence, or at 
places where he could have been arrested, had tte authorities 
desired his arrest ; but they had made no efi"ort to serve any 
process upon him, and, so far as he knew, there was no indict- 
ment out against him. 

The two gentlemen were reinforced, as the moments passed, by 
eight or ten of the " first citizens in Lexington.' ' " They had heard 
there was disturbance at the wharf, and had come down to see 
the cause of it." Gen. Shields stated that " they had been talk- 



268 KANSAS. 

ing to the mob fifteen minutes, endeavoring to persuade them to 
leave the boat ; but none would be satisfied unless the governor 
was retained in Lexington," while others said, " Drag him out." 
His own manner was sufficient to show that, had the mob acted 
ujDon the advice as reported, there would have been at least one 
of " the first citizens " wofully disappointed. He said, moreover, 
" Had it not been reported that your lady was on board, violence 
would at once have been ofiered ; and no restraint could have been 
held over the crowd." The Yankee spirit of the lady rose at this, 
and a mental review was made upon such chivalry, such gallantry, 
of men who hesitate not to steal and invade the rights of others on 
the public thoroughfares. Such gallantry is the index, in all 
nations where it prevails, of the real want of morality and prin- 
ciple — a false glitter, where the whole under-current of the body 
politic is corrupt. The various propositions of sending a com- 
mittee to St. Louis, that my husband might there transact as much 
of his business, which was urgent, as he could, and then return, if 
they should find, by their proposed express to Gov. Shannon, there 
was an indictment, did not meet with favor from this gallant 
band. His request to talk to the crowd, whom Gen. Shields de- 
clared to be in numbers " a cabin full," and " infuriated by the 
liquors on the boat, of which they were drinking freely," was also 
refused, with a look of utter disdain. My husband told them " he 
would never think to escape from an indictment for a political 
ofience, and, had he been doing so, of all places he would have 
avoided the Missouri river and Lexington." By way of sugges- 
tion, he added, " that even in such a case he saw no reason for 
another state to interfere," at which the excitable elements in Gen. 
Shields' character became yet more aroused, and he said, " he did 
not wish to get into an argument, but," he continued, " I warn 
you, not as a friend, for I am not your friend ," — (to which my hus- 
band laughingly said, " I do not wish any one to claim to be my 
friend who is not,") — " but I warn you that this delay in consenting 
to leave the boat, is only making the matter worse." 

They said the carriage was ready to take us to the town ; that 
in two or three days, or perhaps by the next boat, they would 
learn if there was an indictment, and, as soon as the messenger 



ARREST OF GOVERNOR ROBINSON. 269 

to Gov. Shannon should return, if they did not learn sooner there 
was none, they would leave him to pursue his journey. My 
husband, desiring to do that which was right in the matter, although 
his feelings prompted him to a forcible maintenance of his rights, 
let the consequences be what they might, asTied me " what he 
should do." My counsels were to decline going with them. This 
was an unexpected phase of the matter ; but the clerk of the 
boat stepped into our state-room at this juncture of affairs, and 
advised me, for the sake of my husband's safety, to consent to his 
going with them. The gentlemen gathered about the door pledged 
themselves to protect him from all violence. The exact value of 
such pledges I was unable to estimate, not knowing why men who 
would invade all the rights of American citizens on the public 
thoroughfares, would not as easily, without compunction of con- 
science, break their plighted word, if policy whispered a different 
course. My only hope at that moment was in this matter of 
policy, and I at last consented to go off the boat at Lexington. 
Having accepted the hospitalities of Mr. Sawyer, by far the 
most gentlemanly man present, and whose face betokened kindli- 
ness of heart, we made preparations to leave the boat, which Gen. 
S. observed must be done without the knowledge of the " cabin 
full " of " drunken men." We passed out on the guard of the 
boat. The ruffianly horde were standing all around the gangways, 
and on the levee. One captain, so drunk he could not talk plain, 
was ordering his men. Another boat soon came, and the crowd 
rushed on it to search for Gov. Reeder, who was still in Lawrence. 
±^% night four men stood guard near Mr. Sawyer's. The next morn- 
ing, having decided to continue my own journey, Mr. S. kindly 
took me to the boat. The following day my husband went with 
Mr. S. to his office, and was there introduced to several of the 
principal citizens, with whom he had familiar conversation. Dur- 
ing the day, two men, known for their boasting and cowardice, 
came into Lexington from the country, and tried to excite the 
people to some violence against him. At last, some one, who knew 
them well, proposed to let them meet him, equally well armed as 
themselves. This proposal at once produced quiet. The week 
passed away without any word being brought back from Gov. 



270 KANSAS. 

Shannon. Whether it required all this time to make out the 
necessary papers, after j&nding the indictment, we have no means 
of knowing. It was rumored that Gov. Shannon had sent a requi- 
sition upon the Governor of Missouri for the return of my hus- 
band to the territory. A few evenings after his detention at 
Lexington, a Dr. McDonald, of California, who tended upon him 
when he was shot in Sacramento, and who was temporarily in 
Lexington, called to see him. The people imagined he was some 
person from Lawrence, and that a rescue was in contemplation. 
In a very short time several hundred men had gathered around 
Mr. Sawyer's house. Mr. S. disliked such a state of things, and 
my husband preferred to go to the hotel ; so, with a large guard, 
he went down to the hotel between eight and nine o'clock in the 
evening. The steps were full of men, and he passed in through 
them. After sitting a while in the parlor, conversing with the 
landlady and other ladies, he was attended to his room by a guard 
of three men. After a day or two, he took his meals in the pub- 
lic dining-hall. Many of the citizens called to see him, and were 
acquainted with all the plans of the new invasion. They said, 
" there would be a fight." 

Pie told them " he did not think so ; there would be no occa- 
sion for a fight. No one intended to resist the arrests of l^e 
United States Marshal." 

They said, " it would make no difi*erence whether they resisted 
the marshal or not, — the}'- were determined to have a fight. They 
would attack and destroy Lawrence, then the other towns gener- 
ally, and drive the free-state men from the territory." A few of 
them said, " they did not care for Kansas particularly, or the 
laws, but were determined to get up a fight ; then the North would 
be aroused, a general war ensue, and the dissolution of the Union 
would be the result." Others said, " it was to be a war of ex- 
termination ; if the free-state men could sustain themselves against 
the pro-slavery men, they would acquiesce and give it up." 

Col. Preston returned from his interview with Gov. Price on 
Sunday, the 18th He had orders from the governor, to the 
sheriff of that county, to deliver my husband into Col. Preston's 
hands. A boat being at the wharf, it was decided to go on board; 



ARREST OF GOV. ROBINSON. 271 

but just as he was retiring for the night to his state-room, Col. 
Preston altered his mind, and they returned to the town. Col. 
Preston and Wm. Donaldson, with the prisoner in a carriage, left 
Lexington on the 19th, and reached Independence the same night. 
The next day they went to Westport, and remained there until the 
22d, they declaring, without any hesitancy, that " Lawrence would 
be attacked, and they wanted him to remain in Westport until 
after it was done." On the night of the 22d, having had the 
additional guard of Capt. Long's party of Wyandot Indians, they 
arrived at Franklin. They told him repeatedly that in case his 
friends attempted to rescue him, they should kill him the first 
thing. About midnight, all having retired for the night, at 
Franklin, word came from Gov. Shannon, to Col. Preston, to re- 
turn to Leavenworth by way of Kansas city, as there was danger 
of a rescue ; that " he should hold him responsible for Gov. Kobin- 
son's safety, and if any harm befell him it would bring on civil 
war." (At Leavenworth he was informed that Gov. Shannon 
feared a rescue from his own men.) 

So, the long way to Westport and Kansas city, through the 
swollen creeks and deep ravines, and in the darkness of the night, 
was to be retraced. They reached Kansas city the next evening, 
having taken a longer route to avoid the Westport and Kansas 
city road. Whether this was done through fear of attacks from 
the bands of South Carolina foot-pads infesting the usually trav- 
elled way, was not stated. After a little rest, a boat-whistle 
sounded on the night air. The officers, with their prisoner, were 
again astir, and the morning of the 24th found them at Leaven- 
worth. The prisoner was delivered into the hands of the deputy 
sheriff of Leavenworth, who appointed Capt. Martin, of the Kick- 
apoo Rangers, and three others, his guard. On the 28th, when 
the general reign of terror commenced at Leavenworth, those who 
had constituted themselves a committee of vigilance were deter- 
mined to drive from the country every free-state man, and they 
made many threats of taking my husband from the hands of his 
keepers, and hanging him. Capt. Martin, learning of this inten- 
tion, and determined no ill should come to him while in his 
enarge, sent for more of his men. The marshal and Judge Le- 
compte came into Lawrence in the afternoon, and the threats of 



272 KANSAS. 

the mob became less loud. But the most bitter feeling was prev- 
alent among the pro-slavery men. 

Mr. S., of the investigating committee, called upon Gov. R. 
soon after his arrival in Lawrence, and, while talking with him, a 
pro-slavery man present interrupted him with, " You had better 
not talk so much." 

Mr. S. looked at him in astonishment, and the man continued. 
" G — d d — n you, I 'd as soon put a bullet through your abolition 
head as not ! " The fierceness of the man's character was prevented 
from further development by the interposition of the marshal. 
Judge Lecompte also made a formal call upon the prisoner, when 
he took the opportunity to ask of him the nature of his indict- 
ment, and if there was more than one against him. 

The " Little Territorial Court," the red-faced, chubby man, 
making an effort towards dignity, replied, " There are two ; one 
for usurping office, and one for high treason." 

" Does the bill for usurping office include all my connection with 
the free-state movement, or is the indictment for treason founded 
upon this also ? " 

Judge Lecompte replied, substantially, *' The indictment for 
usurping office relates to the state movement, and the office you 
have assumed under it. You are indicted for treason because you 
have organized and counselled forces to act against authorities 
recognized and appointed under the Kansas-Nebraska bill. You 
have assisted in arming men, thus resisting the movements of a 
legal body, and thus waging war against the United States." 

" Does that relate to the occurrences in Lawrence in last No- 
vember and December ? " 

<' Well, such things, of course, cannot be plainly stated ; but 
that is its chief basis, I suppose." 

Let it be sounded in the ears of the American people, that high 
treason against the United States consists in arming one's self and 
friends, in defence of homes and property, in face of a mob, who 
threaten innocent men with death, and timid women with a fate 
in comparison with which death were infinitely preferable. 

On the first of June, my husband, under the charge of his guard, 
arrived at Lecompton, and was placed in a tent with the other 
prisoners ; thus making seven persons crowded into one tent. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

EXCITEMENT IN MISSOUIII — OUTRAGES IN THE TERRI- 
TORY. 

I ARRIVED at Kansas city on the night of June 8d, at twelve 
o'clock, after my eastern flying trip, and in hopes soon to join my 
husband. I had reached Chicago, on the homeward journey, when 
the first uncertain news of the sacking of Lawrence came. A few 
hours' delay, in order to gain more certain intelligence, followed, 
and the unexpected arrival of a friend from the ill-fated city gave 
to the wearing suspense of uncertainties the vividness and sadness 
of realities. He was doubtful as to the fate of any prisoners in 
their hands, yet for them he feared the worst. Still hoping all 
things good, however, with the habitual buoyancy of my character 
unsubdued, I pursued my journey, receiving from strangers in Illinois 
many tangible proofs of their sympathy for Kansas, and for those 
battling in the cause. The last day or two of the trip on the Mis- 
souri river rumors of war became more frequent. Inflammatory 
extras were thrown upon the boats at difi"erent landings. People 
at Lexington, and other points along the river, were much excited, 
and preparing for a new invasion. The extras stated the murder 
of eight pro-slavery men, by the abolitionists, and the cruel muti- 
lation of their bodies ; the death of the United States Marshal, of 
H. C. Pate, and J. McGee. Deeds of blood and violence, of 
which they were hourly guilty, were charged upon the free-state 
men. The following is a sample of the incendiary extras which 
flew through the border counties : " Murder is the watchword and 
midnight deed of a scattered and scouting band of abolitionists, 
who had courage only to fly from the face of a wronged and in- 
sulted people, when met at their own solicitation. Men, peaceable 



274 KANSAS. 

and quiet, cannot travel on the public roads of Kansas, without 
being caught, searched, imprisoned, and their lives, perhaps, taken. 
No Southerner dare venture alone and unarmed on her roads ! " 
Such were the false statements made to arouse the passions of the 
border men. 

A short colloquy on the boat between one of the surveyors in 
the employ of Glen. Calhoun, and others, will show the bitterness 
of their feelings. As the boat left Lexington he came into the 
ladies' cabin, and said to his wife, the daughter of a AYyandot, that 
" Donaldson was killed." 

I said to him, " Will you tell me what Donaldson it is ? " 

*' John Donaldson," was his curt reply. 

Not knowing their Christian names, I asked, " Is it the United 
States Marshal ? " 

He then said, showing a very evident desire to make no explan- 
ations, " He was auditor ; " and his wife, showing more animation 
than from her listless manner one would have supposed possible, 
added, " He was a very fine man." 

To my question, " Were there others injured ? " the surveyor 
said, " Yes, the abolitionists have killed several other persons." 

This seemed to me a doubtful story, and I so stated my belief, 
adding, that " such stories were put in circulation for the purpose 
of exciting another invasion." Reliable persons had informed me 
that the sacking of Lawrence without resistance to the " regularly 
organized militia," was regarded by them as signal a defeat as the 
Dec. invasion ; the invaders having made preparations for a siege, 
and the want of defence on the part of Lawrence had again foiled 
their plans. These reports of outrages committed by the free-state 
party seemed but another scheme to bring about civil war. 

The Wyandot lady, with great bitterness, replied, " These stories 
come from the right side to be true ! " 

As I was revolving in my mind with what simplicity she had 
revealed her proclivities, a gentleman sitting by said to the sur- 
veyor, " Are these Buford men enlisted in the territorial mili- 
tia ? " 

With some hesitancy, yet a half leer of satisfaction spreading 
itself over his broad, bloated face, he replied, " They are residents 



ETC. 275 

of the territory." I suggested their residence was of short dura- 
tion, when the lady, who was " 11. G. Q.," said, " These men and 
the Missourians went into the territory to make homes, while the 
eastern people went there to vote, and then returned." 

Such astounding developments, coupled with the statement that 
had fallen from her lips the same morning, " that her husband 
was the handsomest man on the boat, and because of his beauty she 
married him," seemed to me all I had better try to believe at 
once. So I retired to my old seat to ruminate upon wars in Kan- 
sas, and the blessings resulting to mankind in general from a large 
diversity of tastes and dispositions. 

There were several pro-slavery families on board, very pleasant 
people. There was O; lovely girl going to her home, in Missouri, from 
a boarding-school in Illinois. There was a young lady from Ken- 
tucky, of intelligence and refinement, pro-slavery, yet with her I 
had many pleasant talks, A Missourian returning to Missouri 
with a Texan bride, delicate and pale as the light gossamer robes 
in which she floated, was very affable and intelligent. The young 
Shawnee girl, with her white husband, on her bridal tour, was 
educated, and pleasant, and from all, with the exception named, I 
received the common courtesies of life. This Wyandot lady also 
stated, with great satisfaction of manner, that " Gov. Robinson 
would be hung ; " and was not a little displeased that her listeners 
doubted the statement. 

On arriving at Kansas city we found the stage would" go to 
Westport early in the morning. There were four of us to go, and 
we would attempt the passage together, notwithstanding bands of 
armed men were infesting the highways. Arrangements were 
made, and I slept a few hours. As I sat with bonnet and shawl 
on, the next morning, watching the stage, I saw it leave the door 
without passengers, and the clerk of the house following after. 
He asked the driver, " Why he left his passengers ? Would he 
return ? Would he wait for them to come where the coach then 
was ? " To all his questions he received sullen, indefinite replies. 
The gentleman, knowing our anxiety to get into the territory, 
coaxed and threatened. But it all proved useless. He would not 
cairy us to Westport, where we could meet the stage for Law- 



276 KANSAS. 

rence, and no carriage could go from the hotel, because horses 
were continually taken from wagons, carriages, or riders, and 
pressed into the service of " law and order." So, until the day 
after the next, as the stage went out only three days in the week, 
returning on the alternate days, we would be obliged to remain. 
This would have been unendurable had not the hotel still been 
in the possession of Massachusetts gentlemen. Five Massachu- 
setts families were still in the house, also Mr. C, of Philadelphia, 
who had sometimes made a home with us, had just returned with 
uis wife from the Quaker city. 

The threats of destroying this hotel were still frequent, and 
nightly the danger of attack was imminent. The mayor of the 
city had kept out a guard one or two nights. But he had de- 
clined doing this longer, and, a meeting of the citizens being 
called, it was decided to ask the " Eldridges " to sell the hotel, to 
save it from the fury of South Carolinians and border men ; they 
expressed to them at the same time their regret that such was 
the excitement against it. 

Again and again the mob had assembled, and with groans, 
whose hideousness no one can appreciate who was not forced to 
listen, and with yells, declared the house should come down. The 
"Eldridges" proposed their terms, which were accepted, and, on the 
morning of the tenth, the hotel passed into the keeping of two 
pro-slavery men. Little curly, woolly heads, sitting in the door- 
ways, proclaimed also the house was under a new rule. One, 
with skin slightly colored, and fiery red hair, looked oddly, and 
bore a marked resemblance to the little boy of his own size, whose 
attendant he seemed to be. 

On the second of June a battle was fought near Prairie city. 
For several days, a portion of the posse, Buford men and Caro- 
linians, together with Missourians, had been committing depreda- 
tions upon the settlers, taking several of them prisoners. Capt. 
Brown, on hearing of the outrages, called his company together, 
and started on the eve of Sunday, travelling all night. At day- 
light, Capt. Brown made the attack upon Pate and his company, 
who were arranged behind their wagons. Pate also placed the 
unarned prisoners, whom he had taken, in front of them, as a 



EXCITEMENT IN MISSOURI, ETC. '277 

shield. The forces were not far from equal, Pate's party num- 
bering a few more than the other. After a two hours' fire, Pato 
sent forward one of his men, with a prisoner, and a white flag, 
and surrendered unconditionally. A few of Pate's company fled 
to Missouri. Among them was Coleman, the murderer ; twenty- 
six men were taken prisoners by Capt. Brown. A quantity of 
goods, stolcL from Lawrence, was found in their wagons. A day 
or two after this, bands of South Carolinians were threading their 
way towards Bull Creek, and men from Independence, Lexington, 
Westford, and Clay county, generally, were fast going up the 
Santa Pe road to join the same bands. One hundred and eighty 
men, who had been camped near Bull Creek, went nearer Pal- 
myra, and camped back of the town, in a ravine. About one 
hundred free-state men were in camp about two miles beyond. 
From near Hickory Point and Lawrence one hundred men were 
marching to reinforce those last named. Whitfield left his seat be- 
fore the investigating committee, June 2d, at the head of a large 
body of armed men, to conquer, I suppose, his constituents in the 
territory, his stated object to relieve H. C. Pate. While Gov. Shan- 
non, in every instance, has stationed troops in a town after it has been 
sacked, he now saw the free-state men rallying to protect them- 
selves, and feared the slave power would lose the ground gained 
through his servility. He heard, too, of aid coming from out of 
Kansas, and issued a proclamation on the fourth, " commanding 
all persons belonging to military companies unauthorized by law 
to disperse, otherwise they would be dispersed by the United 
States troops." It required all civil officers of the government to 
be watchful in enforcing the laws, and protecting the property 
and persons of all law-abiding citizens. All aggressive parties 
outside the territory will be repulsed. The President's proclama- 
tion of February 11th was appended, and Gov. Shannon stated 
that it would be strictly enforced. A requisition was also made 
upon Col. Sumner for a force sufficient to compel obedience to 
the proclamation. 

Or. the fifth. Col. Sumner broke in upon the free-state camp, 
and released Capt. Pate and fellow-prisoners. Col. Sumner 
24 



278 KANSAS. 

ordered the free-state men to return quietly to their homes, and 
then, turning to Pate, said, " What business have yon here ? " 

" I am here by orders of Gov. Shannon." 

" I saw Gov. Shannon yesterday, and your case was specially 
considered, and he asserted you were not here by his orders." 
He then added, " You are Missourians, all of you, and when you 
crossed your state line, you trampled on state sovereignty. Now, 
go, sir, in the direction from whence you came; " and, as he closed 
his remarks, Col. Sumner waved his hand for Pate and his party 
to leave. So the brave H. C. Pate returned to Westport and 
Kansas city. He acknowledged the bravery of Capt. Brown, 
for he said Capt. Brown rode about them sword in hand, and 
commanded a surrender, and they were obliged to make it. He 
spoke well of them in their treatment of him while a prisoner 
but with Col. Sumner's treating him with so little deference he 
felt quite outraged, and talked of a challenge. 

The pro-slavery camp was also visited by Col. Sumner, and 
ordered to leave the territory. A part did so ; but another part 
of Whitfield's force went towards Osawattomie. On the sixth, 
at four o'clock in the afternoon, one hundred and fifty of them, 
fully armed and much intoxicated, entered Osawattamie, and 
commenced their work of house-breaking, burning and pillage. 
They sacked the town, taking everything of value, money, pro- 
visions, clothing and jewelry. Sixteen horses were taken, while 
the owners looked on. Among them were two from the United 
States mail coach, running between Fort Scott and Westport. 

On the eighth, Capt. Brown's company, having been disbanded 
at Palmyra, was disarmed. Hearing of the sack of Lawrence, 
they had again organized, and were deliberating how best to 
protect themselves, and neighbors, when the troops, who should 
have protected Osawattomie, came upon them, and took their 
arms. Word had been sent, previous to the attack, to some of the 
free-state camps, and messengers were immediately sent to the 
nearest camp of the dragoons, asking for protection for Osawat- 
tomie. The messengers stated that the free-state men had been 
disbanded with the promise of protection. Now, Osawattomie 
was calling to fhem for aid, and unless they would march to their 



ETC. 279 

relief, the free-state men would rally, and at once go to their 
assistance. 

Lieut. Mcintosh said he had heard rumors of an attack, simi- 
lar to those brought by the messengers, and that he had sent an 
express in the morning, to the camps near Osawattomie, inform- 
ing them of the contemplated attack. The messengers stated that 
unless they could carry back word that something definite would 
be done, for the protection of Osawattomie, they would immedi- 
ately march to that place. The lieutenant then stated that every- 
thing that could be done, would be ; that he would himself start 
for the camp below. While he was preparing to leave, he accused 
the free-state peopb of being unwilling to obey the Draconian 
laws of the territory. He was on his way toward Osawattomie. 

The free-state men, thinking their friends would be protected, 
returned to their homes, leaving the field to the dragoons. The 
next night brought the intelligence of the sack of Osawattomie. 
The troops could not save Lawrence, because Col. Sumner had no 
orders to act. They did not save Osawattomie. Neither did 
they protect Leavenworth, only three miles from the fort, during 
its reign of terror. While the free-state men showed a disposition 
to protect themselves, they were not allowed to do it; yet rob- 
beries and murders were repeated every day, in the early part of 
June. Every evening's intelligence was of some fresh outrage. 

On the evening of the fourth, Mr. C, counsel for the prisoners, 
with his wife, returned from Lecompton. Judge C. was also with 
them, having gone as a witness in the case. At Lecompton both 
of them were ordered from the town by a bully from Leaven- 
worth, by the name of Kelly. He crdered Judge 0. to leave, and 
when he applied to Gov. Shannon for protection, the reply of the 
governor of the territory was, " Your people are shooting down 
our people, and I can give you no protection." The meaning of 
this is, the free-state people are shooting down fhe pro-slavery, 
which was false in reality, and which still further proved the par- 
tisan character of the government. After ordering Judge C. to 
leave, he met Mr. C, as he was returning from the clerk's ofiice 
^<where he was having some papers necessary in my husband's 
case made out) to Shannr^n's office. 



280 KANSAS. 

The following dialogue took place : 

Ruffian, in a rough manner, — "You are ordered to leave Le- 
compton." 

Mr. C, in a very composed manner, asked, "Do you order me 
to leave upon your own responsibility, or at the suggestion of 
others ? " 

" I tell you you are ordered to leave Lecompton." 

" Yes, but such proceedings are not usully executed so summa- 
rily, and it would gratify me to know who takes the responsibility 
of ordering me from Lecompton." 

" I take the responsibility ; so do others. I tell you to leave." 

" Well, what may your name be? " 

The ruffian demurred at giving his name; but, as Mr. C. 
assured him that, in all civilized countries, the accused were 
allowed to know the names of their accusers, he said, " You know 
me. You saw me at Leavenworth at the first election." 

" I do not recollect having had the honor of your acquaintance ; 
but of course you are an honorable man, and are not ashamed of 
your name." 

" Well, my name is Kelly ; and you are ordered to leave Le- 
compton." 

Mr. C. retained his seat, while Mr. Kelly, like a witness on the 
stand, was standing before him, and the highly honorable governor 
was sitting by. 

" In all courts of justice it is customary for the accused to make 
a defence before judgment is pronounced, and it would please me 
to know of what I am accused." 

After refusing, for a time, to make any charges, Mr. Kelly 
said, " You have written articles for the Herald of Freedom.''' 

" That is a misstatement. What other charges have you? " 

" You have been connected with the free-state movement." 

"You are so honorable a man, you will, of course, allow me to 
bring witnesses to prove this charge untrue." 

" Well, you are known to be the intimate friend of Gov. Reeder 
and Gov. Kobinson." 

Mr. C., rising, said, " That is sufficient ; " and, turning to Gov. 
Shannon, asked, as counsel for Gov. Robinson, — having come 



EXCITEMENT IN MISSOURI, ETC. 281 

there expecting an examination in his case, — if he had no pro- 
tection to offer him. The governor signified he had none. Then 
Mr. C, gathering up his papers in a dignified manner, bade him 
" good-afternoon," and walked out of the house. The governor 
seemed to have a sudden thought. He stepped out after him, and 
spoke to some of the ruffians a moment, when one of them told Mr. 
C. " he could stay in Lecompton as long as he wanted to." 

Judge C, with the wife of the counsel, rode out of town a short 
distance to wait for her husband. They were stopped by three 
men, armed with U. S. muskets, as they approached Westport. on 
their way back to Kansas city. The question whether they were 
armed was asked by one of the foot-pads; to which Mrs. C. 
replied, " No, sir." They were then allowed to pass. Westport 
was full of armed men, and a large company were drilling in front 
of Milton McGee's, two miles from Kansas city ; but, for some 
reason, they were allowed to pass unmolested. 

The next morning, June 4th, Judge C. was sitting in the parlor, 
relating to three or four of us ladies his adventures of the three 
last weeks, his detention at Parkville by a mob, his arrest at 
Leavenworth by a gang of self-constituted authorities, and his 
being driven from Lecompton by an Irish bully, the governor 
acquiescing. We were all laughing merrily at the pictures he 
drew of his forlorn condition, being marched about at the point of 
the bayonet, and assuring us, in his own peculiar way, that it " did 
confuse a fellow's ideas somewhat when he expected a punch from 
the bayonets every moment." But, at this instant, a rough, burly 
fellow, red-faced, and with hair of yet more fiery color, came 
through the reading-room into the parlor. lie came a little way 
towards Judge C, and called him to him. He then asked, "Is 
your name C?" 

" It is, sir." 

" You are my prisoner." 

" By what authority? " said Judge C. 

The only reply was a rough grasp of the shoulder and wrist of 

Judge C, with the words, " Come along," as he rudely drew him 

into the reading-room. Mrs. C, the Philadelphia lady, and a 

brave Massachusetts woman in the house, were close to Judge O.'s 

24* 



'2^2 KANSAS. 

side. The rucle law-and-order man stated that Jones had jus'u been 
shot, and was dead, and that Judge C. was the murderer. 

Mrs. C, said, "Judge C. is a friend of ours, and he is an inno- 
cent man " 

Some men of Kansas city, at work on the levee, in front of the 
hotel, had gathered near. The official appealed to them for help ; 
but not a hand was raised to aid him, while he declared "he 
would not give a ' tip ' for such a town as that." Seeing how 
matters stood, that he was to get no help, he said " he was mis- 
taken in the man," and spoke of two other free-state men as 
implicated in the pretended assassination of the day before, who 
had been in the states since January, and were not yet in the 
territory. 

He then said, " Were you not driven out of Leavenworth? " 

" I was told to go, sir." 

To Judge C.'s explanation that he was now on his way to Balti- 
more, his home, the burly fellow said "it was also his home." 

"What may your name be? perhaps I may know you," said 
the judge. 

"My name is Hughes." Then Mr. Hughes made his parting 
address; "Well, C, you go to your home, and do as man ought 
to do to man." 

" I will, sir." 

"Don't tell any of your infernal lies when you get to Balti- 
more." 

" I shall tell no lies, sir." 

The truth in his case, he doubtless thought, as we did, would 
be all-sufficient to rouse the feelings of American citizens against 
the outrages committed here at slavery's bidding. A gentleman 
from Lawrence, whom Brewerton had pointed out as having shot 
at a Mr. Cox, in the melee passed directly through the crowd 
from the office, to a safer place. Another, from St. Louis, was 
introduced to the same Hughes, by a bystander, as a " shipper 
of Sharpe's rifles." The law-and-order man dilated his eyes, and 
asked the gentleman if that was his business. He replied, " he 
was a commission merchant, and whatever boxes came, shipped 
to his cai 3, he sent forward." " Did he not know he had no right 



ETC. 283 

to send ritles to Kansas?" "I have lived several years in St. 
Louis, and have never broken any law of the state." To such 
indignities and questionings have gentlemen been obliged to sub- 
mit at the hands of men who have been convicts for years in the 
penitentiary. It was amusing to see the indignation of the last 
gentleman, at such an examination, not having been through so 
thorough a process of breaking-in as Judge C. Every day only 
added to the enormities of the pro-slavery party. 

A Mr. Cantrell, recently from Missouri, but a free-state man, 
was taken prisoner on the evening of the 5th of June, by one of 
Gen. Whitfield's scouting parties. On the next day he was car- 
ried down the Sante Fe road. At Cedar Creek he was taken out 
into a ravine by two men. Then there was a shot ; — then the 
cry, " 0, God, I am shot ! — I am murdered ! " Then another 
shot, and a long, piercing scream ; — another shot, and all was 
still ! 

A Mr. Bailey narrowly escaped a violent death, and through 
many sufferings at last reached his friends. He had started from 
his home to get a load of provisions for himself and his neighbors. 
When near Bull Creek, Coleman, who had twenty men encamped 
close by, came and ordered him to stop there over night. Among 
these twenty men were Buckley and Hargous, his accomplices in 
the murder of Dow. In the morning his horses were missing 
their halters having been cut. The men expressed sympathy for 
his loss, and told him the horses could be found in the camp at 
Cedar Creek, and they proposed to go with him to find them. 
Before reaching Cedar Creek they met a company of two hundred 
men. A consultation was held with them, and Coleman said, 
" There may be treachery used." 

Soon after the company had passed on, three men took Mr. 
Bailey into the prairie about one hundred yards from the road, 
and demanded his money ; without hesitation, or one word of 
objection, he gave them forty-five dollars, all he had. One of the 
men then raised his gun as though he would fire. Mr. Bailey 
said, " If you mean to kill me, you will kill a better man than 
yourself;" to which the ruffian, lowering his gun, replied, "I 
wish you to take off those pantaloons ; perhaps they will get 



284 KANSAS. 

bloody." But Mr. Bailey said, " They are mine as long as I 
live." 

This tool of the administration, armed with a U. S. musket, 
again raised his gun, and fired. The ball struck Mr. Bailey in 
the side, glancing along the ribs, and lodged in the back. Mr. 
Bailey fell, and was struck at again and again with the musket. 
Then two of the men disappeared, and left this more than demon 
to finish the work of killing a peaceable man. He jumped on the 
body of the prostrate man, stamping on his face and head. But 
as Mr. Bailey caught hold of the musket, and was able to hold on 
upon it, the murderer ran after the others, calling upon them to 
return. They, however, were too far away. After lying in the 
grass three hours, Mr. Bailey attempted to find his way home. 
In doing so, he passed near their camp the next morning at day- 
break, and for a while lay hid in the grass, to learn their move- 
ments. While there, he heard a cry, " Are you going to hang 
me ? " and no reply, save the ringing of a bell. In about five 
minutes, he heard a shot, then a whistle, and six other shots at 
intervals of five minutes. He lay in the woods all that day, and 
at night crawled along about two miles ; was hid near the Waka- 
rusa all the next day ; saw a wagon stopped by five men ; heard 
angry words, and a shot fired. In the night, worn down by his 
sufi"erings from the wound and bruises, having had nothing to eat 
for three days, and nothing to drink but stagnant water, he reached 
the house of Dr. Still, at Blue Mound. 

A young man, by the name of Hill, was going to Missouri, also 
for provisions, and as night came, he asked two men on the road 
where he could find water for his horses. They said they would 
show him, if he would go with them. "WTien he had gone with 
them to the ravine, where they said he would find water, they 
searched him, took whatever he had of money, and threatened to 
kill him. He told them he had a mother, and young brothers and 
sisters, dependent on him ; that day after day, as she looked out 
for his coming, and night only brought a renewal of the sad sus- 
pense as to his fate, in sorrow she would go the grave ; but there 
was DD pity in their hrarts, no mercy. They tied the young man's 
arms behind him, and, bending his feet backwards, tied them also 



ETC. 285 

to his arms, then put a stick an inch and a half wide in his mouth, 
prying it open, and tied the string back of his head. Then, more 
barbarous than the New Zealanders, they cut places in his hat, 
and tied that also over his face, and laid his face downwards on 
the stones. They went away leaving him to die. 

After a time they came back ; and, as one placed his pistol 
directly over his eye, he feeling its pressure through the hat, the 
other said, " Don't shoot him ; he will not go any further on his 
journey to-night." They left again to report at the camp, proba- 
bly, another victim to the vile tools of slavery propagandism. 

When this young man found himself again alone, and thought 
they would not return, he commenced making an effort to extri- 
cate himself from his painful position. By working his boot upon 
the sharp stones, he found the rope loose enough for him to draw 
his foot out. His feet were thus left at liberty, while one boot 
was swinging on his back. By working his hat between his knees, 
he was able to pull it off his face. Then with the strip of board 
still lacerating his mouth, and hands fastened with strong cords 
behind him, he set out to find some house in the darkness of the 
night. 

He had come from Iowa in the spring, and was but little ac- 
quainted with the country. After travelling eleven miles, he knew, 
by the barking of the dogs, he was near a house, but was unable 
to get over the fence. The strange cries he made at last attracted 
the attention of the family, but, supposing him to be a drunken 
Indian, they did not at first come to his aid. He was, however, 
cared for by them. Elliot, who with Titus pledged five hundred 
dollars for the head of Capt. Walker, when the U. S. Marshal, 
with his usual servility, offered to send a posse for him, was one 
of the actors in this savage transaction. Other men were con- 
tinually shot and robbed. 

A man, who had a pass from U. S. Marshal Donaldson, with a 
load of freight, was returning to his home in the territory. The 
same evening of the day he left, he returned, robbed of his money, 
wagon and oxen, and saved his life only by a promise to leave the 
territory. The men who attacked him were encamped about two 



286 KANSAS. 

miles from Westport, armed, as a 1 their men are, with U. S. rifles 
and side arms. 

The questions asked of him were, " Wiere do you live? Where 
are you from ? What are your politics ? How much money did 
that d — d Emigrant Aid Society give you to come out here? 
What the h — 1 did you come out here for ? Did you come to 
make Kansas a free state ? Why did n't you go to Nebraska ? 
That 's a good country, and you d — d Yankees may have it ; but 
Kansas you '11 have to fight for, and we '11 whip h — 1 out of you, 
but we '11 get it. Union or no Union ! That 's a game that must 
win, I am thinking." The question was finally asked, " If we 
will let you go, will you take a gun and march with the pro- 
slavery party ? " 

" Never ! " was the invariable reply. In an instant, the cry 
resounded through the camp, " The ropes, boys, the ropes ! " 

It was thrown over his head, and he was dragged to the nearest 
tree, exclaiming, " You do not intend to kill me in this manner, 
do you ? " 

The reply was, " Yes, Gr — d d — n your abolition heart, and all 
like you ! " 

He asked, if he was thus to be sacrificed, for time to collect his 
thoughts, and arrange his worldly affairs. The fiends told him he 
could have ten minutes to make any disposal of his property, and 
his peace with God. He then gave a list of his effects to one of 
the captains, asking him to send it east to his friends ; and, at the 
expiration of the ten minutes, the rope was thrown over a limb, 
and they jerked him from the ground. After being let down, he 
was asked, " Will you leave the territory, if we '11 spare your 
life ? " 

The prisoner objected, stating he had broken no law, and in- 
fringed upon no man's rights. The leader, who had ordered him 
let down when hanging, again interposed, saying he must make 
this promise, or lose his life. He told the men that this gentle- 
man had a " ri^ht to be a free-state man, thouo;h no ridit to hold 
such views in Kansas ; that he was guilty of no ciime." With a 
guard he was sent back to Kansas city. 

Others, going out with loaded teams, soon returned, laving 



EXCITEMENT IN MISSOF.II, ETC. 287 

gone through the same operation of questioning and hanging. 
In one instance, as one was released, and left tlie camp, he heard 
the screams of another man in the camp across the road. Mr. 
Upton, the sergeant-at-arms of the investigating committee, was 
also threatened with hanging, but he was very firm in his ex- 
pressed opinions that they would n't do it. When at last he told 
them who he was, they looked frightened, and were glad to be rid 
of him. 

A young man and his wife, formerly from Iowa, came to Kansas 
city. They were fearful, and dared not stay longer in the terri- 
tory. Nine yoke of cattle, which, he was going to take into Iowa 
to sell, were taken from him by a ruffianly band just as he ap- 
proached Kansas city. Some gentlemen stopping at Kansas, who 
had lost teams on their way down, were anxious to get back into 
the territory. They started one day, but returned ere its close. 
They thought, by going on foot, and keeping oif of the travelled 
roads, they should be able to get through without molestation ; 
but, when about twelve miles out, they fell into the enemy's hands. 
They were released after a time, and advised to return to Kansas 
city, " as they would meet other bands, where they might fare 
worse." 

A clergyman, from Vermont, whom I met on my tour East, and 
who spoke to me then of visiting the territory, to look after an 
insane brother, reached Kansas city on his return, having been in 
perils many and oft. At Westport, he stated himself a clergyman, 
his object in visiting the territory, and tried to hire a horse of 
Mr. Harris, of the Harris House. There seemed to be objections, 
but the matter was at last arranged. A man proposed to go with 
him, who also had a sick brother. Coleman stood near them as 
the arrangements were made. As Rev. Mr. Webster and the 
other man were travelling along, he noticed another man keeping 
always the same distance in the rear. A few miles out of West- 
port, the man proposed watering the horses ; and, as Mr. W. dis- 
mounted, he was informed by the other man, " that he was taken 
out here for the purpose of an examination, to see whither the 
stories he told were true." The papers he found on the minister 
corroborated his statements, and satisfied the man. The one fol- 



288 KANSAS. 

lowing had also arrived there, and entered into the examination. 
Mr. W. was then informed that if he went on to Prairie city, he 
must do so on foot, as he had orders to take the horse back to 
Westport. Mr. W. was unable to walk so far, and concluded to 
go back and make another trial. On retracing his steps, he was 
taken into a camp of the highwaymen, and marched about at the 
option of the vile men. He was surprised to find there, also in 
bonds, two Virginians who had made the passage of the Missouri 
at the same time with himself. They had promised to travel with 
him, to be a mutual protection, but by some means they had lost 
sight of each other. And they, not willing to go all lengths of 
robbing and shooting, in their defence of slavery, had fallen under 
the surveillance of these brutes in form of men. 

Reports of five men hanging on the trees between Westport and 
Palmyra came in at Kansas city. One of the pro-slavery pro- 
prietors of the house had his information so direct that he said 
"he had no doubt it was true." 

Some free-state families were leaving, but they were mostly 
those who had but recently come into the territory, and had not 
established themselves, and become a part of the great question 
of slavery and freedom. Timid men turned back when their feet 
had hardly pressed the rich soil of Kansas ; but the old settlers, 
undaunted by past disasters and present confusion, stood firmly 
upon their rights. Having put their " hands to the plough, they 
would not look back." In some regions, where husbands and 
brothers were in arms to protect some other settlement, or to 
drive out marauders, delicately reared and intelligent New Eng- 
land women were busy in the fields. Their horses and oxen stolen 
they were at work earnestly to get in the crops. Two beautifu 
and accomplished girls, thus at work, said to a friend of mine, 
" Those who would think less of us for working in the field, may 
say what they please ; we do not value their opinions." 

Forbearance has been the motto of our people. No means have 
been left untried to arouse them against national authority, but, 
with the trusting, peace-loving spirit, which has no parallel in his- 
tory, they have cherished a faith, in the final righting of their 
wrongs, which indeed " hopeth all things and endureth all things." 



ETC. 289 

None but the intelligent, strong-hearted class of people, who have 
passed into Kansas, could have reached such an acme of endur- 
ance. Now another desperate effort is put forth to possess the 
laud. Attempts are made unceasingly to drive off the timid, to 
harass the settlers generally, by placing the love of life in the 
scales with a love of freedom ; by keeping in prison the leading 
men, and by preventing the incoming of new free-state settlers by 
every possible means. 
25 



CHAPTER XX. 

TWO WEEKS IN JUXE OX THE MISSOURI BORDER. 

Every succeeding day's fresh enormities clearly show the base 
intention of the pro-slavery men. Major Richardson, Buford, 
Donaldson, and others, who are foremost in this cruel war upon 
the free-state men, often dined at the hotel in Kansas city. The 
threats of Buford's men against him were neither few nor mild. 
Many of them, without hesitation, said " they would shoot him 
the first chance they could get," and he at last went down the 
river. His men came in, every day, worn out and sick. A free- 
state man, pitying the utter wretchedness of one of them, took 
care of him a few days, and sent him down the river. I saw him 
frequently carrying some little nourishment from the hotel to the 
store where the sick man was. A gentleman in from Chicago 
reported help near. He brought letters from well-known friends 
of Kansas. The rumor spread abroad. Its soothing effect upon 
the overwrought passions of the border men could not escape 
notice. Their anxiety in the matter was intense. One of them, 
a native of Burlington, Yt., of fine family, but who has been 
connected with a rabid pro-slavery paper here, though now appa- 
rently leaning to the other side of the question, had his seat next 
me at the table. This gentleman said to me, "It is said two 
thousand men are coming from Chicago ; but I think the trouble 
is confined here ; it reaches but a little distance." The reply 
made was, " You cannot have been East lately, for there is in- 
tense feeling throughout the North, and they will not be backward 
in sending many times that number, if emergencies require it." 
A report of five hundred men coming from Wisconsin also had 
a wonderfully subduing effect upon the Leavenworth law-and- 
order men, and soon after Col. Sumner disbanded their Yigilance 



TWO V7EEKS IN JUNE ON THE MISSOUEI BOKDEE. 291 

Committee. For many days the ferry-boat had been pJying 
busily backwards and forth across the river, bringing over the 
Clay County boys. As they landed but a few rods below the 
house, and I saw their besotted, rough, unintelligent faces, I 
wondered less at the barbarities we heard daily. The intellectual 
was blotted out, the animal, the sensual part of human nature 
alone remaining, rendering them fit instruments, in the hands of a 
corrupt administration, in aiding and abetting the interests of the 
slave power. They came back in two days, and went on the boat 
quietly, no yells resounding through the grand old woods on the 
further shore, as when they came over. Col. Sumner had at last 
driven them out. There were Wyandots returning drunk, who 
yelled in front of the hotel, and brandished their pistols, daring 
one another to fight. One of my husband's guard at Westport 
was at the hotel, and desired to see me. He seemed to be a man 
of kind heart, and evidently thought he was conferring a favor 
by telling me how much " the guard thought of Gov. Robinson ; 
that he was a gentleman, and they treated him as such ; that 
Capt. Martin was very much attached to him, and declared no 
injury should come to the governor in which he did not share." 
As we were talking ffimiliarly, I asked him " how it happened 
that Cov. Shannon was so long in sending for my husband." 
He said, " I suppose they had to wait for papers to be made out." 
"Then they found there was no indictment when we left Law- 
rence ? " And he was forced to say there was none at that time. 
He was very anxious to get to Lecompton, but pretended to think 
the people of Lawrence would attack him if he attempted to pass 
there, and, if I would go with him, he would protect me by their 
camps, while my presence would be a safeguard for him at Law- 
rence. The mutual advantages of the arrangement did not strike 
me so forcibly as him, and I preferred to stay longer here to 
getting into a worse place. Gov. Shannon came to Kansas city 
on the 9th. It was known that he met a large party of Georgians 
at Westport, just arrived ; and the streets were full of the noisy, 
drunken crowd. He stated his intention to go down the river. 
Poor man ! he feared for his own safety. He was despised by 
both parties, and a curse to himself. As a man who had lost his 



292 KANSAS. 

cattle was speaking to the governor, trying to get some redress, 
it was amusing to watch the expression of his face. There was 
a look of utter weariness, of inability to do anything, of inca- 
pacity to know what to do. Instead of going down the river, he 
took the first boat to Fort Leavenworth, and the next day sent a 
sealed despatch to the President. Gov. Shannon was frightened, 
and, as he repeated some things about the invasion to Col. Sumner, 
the colonel grew angry, and talked plainly to the governor, telling 
him " he would have driven out the ruflSans long ago, had he 
had the power, and now he had, he would drive them over the 
state line, or to h — 11." The colonel, with Shannon under his wing, 
started off with another company of dragoons, three brass six- 
pound field-pieces, and a quantity of stores. Col. Sumner was 
very indignant at the Osawattomie affair. 

The investigating committee had also arrived on the 9th, hav- 
ing finished their laborious work in the territory, and their last 
sittings at Leavenworth and Westport being in the midst of war, 
arrests of their clerks, their witnesses, and in general confusion. 
Every day at Westport armed bands of infuriated, drunken men, 
were marshalled in the streets. Their threats were open and 
violent against the committee. Whitfield "had left his position 
before the committee to carry fire and sword into the territory. 
The last afternoon there was an effort made to create a disturb- 
ance, but the firmness of the majority of the committee effectu- 
ally quelled it. 

The people of Westport soon began to grow weary of the trou- 
blesome men whom they had invited into their midst. Not content 
with robbing free-state people, the Westport people said, " No 
man was sure, when he fastened his horse and went into a store, 
that he would find it on his return." Such an experience 
was a little troublesome, so they called a meeting to express their 
disapprobation of this invasion into the territory, to state that they 
had no sympathy with it. But the insincerity of the movement 
was expressed by the total failure of the meeting, only six per- 
sons remaining until its close. They probably forgot that at the 
same time a call was in all the papers, signed by one of the most 
influential citizens of Westport, for " provisions and horses to 



TWO WEEKS IN JUNE ON THE MISSOURI BORDER. 293 

carry on the war." A few days after, another meeting was called, 
and a resolution was passed to the effect that they had taken no 
part in this invasion upon the territory, in the outrages, such as 
murder, hanging, etc. A man, who shot Mr. Cantrell, voted for 
this resolution. Another man, more honest at least, arose and 
said he was of a party which had gone through a mock hanging ; 
but the resolution passed. 

Business was dead at Kansas city. For the few last days I 
was there nothing was stirring where before, for the press of 
teams, a person could pass with the greatest diifficulty ; scarcely 
any one could be seen. The warehouse men had received 
word from Lawrence that all freights in their houses, consigned 
to merchants there, must be shipped to Leavenworth. This 
made them anxious, for through their pockets their feelings had 
been reached. The business men invited conversation with some 
eastern men. They said they would call meetings expressive also 
of their disapprobation ; but they were assured the move was too 
late ; that it would not be regarded as sincere ; that eastern capi- 
tal was timid, cautious ; that it would not be convinced ; that 
money, which would have come in here, would go where life and 
property are safe ; that eastern travel would leave the Missou- 
ri river for a northern route. 

One man, who brought the governor's proclamation down to 
Westport and Kansas city, was on the way, through the border 
town, to raise more men for the war. Wm. Donaldson, several 
days after, was at Lidependence, endeavoring to induce men to 
go up and attack Topeka. The following letter from Indepen- 
dence states the fact : 

*' Independence, Mo., Thvrsdarj, June 12, 1856. 
" Postmaster, Lawrence, K. T. : There were some men here 
yesterday trying to get men to go with them to the territory, for 
the purpose of going to Topeka to burn it up. Now, for Grod's 
sake, send an express immediately to that place, and get the peo- 
ple there to send for the United States troops to protect them. 
One of the men that were here was named William Donaldson 
(brother of Postscript D.), and he said that Shannon had left the 
territory and gone home leaving Secretary "Woodson as acting 
25^ 



294 KANSAS. 

governor, and that he would let the pro-slavery party do as they 
pleased, and that naio was the time to burn out, kill and drive 
every free-state man from the territory. 

"I am a pro-slavery man myself, but I want things done honor- 
ably, and give you the warning now. Do not delay, for they will 
be in Topeka in a very few days. Respectfully, 

" James Bkown. 

" P. S. — This is not my proper name, but what is said is true." 

Several women, whose lives had been passed amid the influ- 
ences of slavery, were a novel study. One who boarded in the 
hotel, a lady in manner, seemed anxious to know all that was 
transpiring in and around the house, and to gain such knowledge 
did not hesitate to listen at the doors of other people's rooms. 
One evening, three several times was she found standing in the 
dark passage-way near a room, where several of the free-state 
people were chatting socially. 

Another, a young girlish thing, full of quick wit and ready 
repartee, though as uncultivated as the unhewn rock, occasioned us 
many a laugh. She was a native of this far west, and it seemed 
to be as natural for her to swear as to breathe. Almost every 
sentence, besides the oath, either began or finished with the asser- 
tion " I am a real border ruffian." She talked a good deal of a 
proposed visit to her husband's parents in Vermont, and won- 
dered " what they would say when they saw a live border ruffian." 

There was another person, whose languid airs and affi^cted 
manner of speech would entitle her, in the great world of fashion, 
to the name of lady. The subject of temperance lectures being 
one day incidentally introduced, she said, " It was not because 
her husband was a seller of liquors that she never attended such 
lectures, but where she had lived it had not been considered 
respectable for ladies to attend them." She concluded by saying 
"that in these days of isms she supposed some would attend 
them." 

There was another woman, native-born, who came to the 
house, occasionally, at the time it was passing into new hands. 
She owned one of the colored "boys," who was hired in the 
hotel. She came to make some arrangement with the new pro- 



TWO WEEKS ON THE MISSOURI BORDER. 295 

prietor. She was a maiden lady, considerably on the down-hill 
side of life, large, portly, with most expressionless face, but she 
had " raised" the " boy," and she " wanted him treated kindly."- 
She said, " she had thought she would let him have what wages 
he made through the summer." When the proprietor, quite harsh- 
ly, said, "it did not do to treat negroes well," she said "she 
had never struck the boy a blow in her life, and she would have 
him well treated ; he could stay a month, and if he did not like 
he could leave." 

In a conversation with a little daughter of the former proprie- 
tor, she said, " Where are you from ? " - 

" Massachusetts." 

" What county is that in?" 

" Massachusetts is a state," timidly replied the sensitive girl, 
not liking to show any superiority of knowledge. 

" Yes, I know that ; but what county is it in ? " 

There seemed to be a confusion of ideas. She knew she lived in 
Jackson County, and to her, probably, that comprised all Missouri. 
As far as native intelligence went, the colored boy was her supe- 
rior, and she evidently regarded him with the same affection she 
would a white boy whom she had reared. 

A most forcible display of the evil passions aroused and 
strengthened by the system of slavery, and the effect which abso- 
lute power over one's fellow-creature has upon the character, was 
made one day at dinner. A stranger unfortunately had taken the 
seat which this boarder usually occupied. He came late to his 
meal, and saw the seat was occupied, and, as he stood in the door- 
way, looking up and down the table, turning his head this way 
and that in most furious manner, there was in his face scarcely 
one expression of the " human face divine." He was an intem- 
perate man, and now, when his passions were aroused, his appear- 
ance suggested wild animals, a whole menagerie. Seeing his 
strange actions and looks, we supposed he was looking for some 
one at the table, against whom such wrath had concentrated, but 
he finally turned and told the proprietor, " he should leave the 
house before the sun-setting, and he would have it torn down ; 
not another ni^ht should it stand." Thus he raved all that after- 



296 KANSAS. 

noon, in the house and out of the house, endeavoring to gather 
a crowd ; but toward evening another dram gave him a quietus 
for the night and the next day, and the matter ended. 

It was at last decided by Col. Sumner, that, for the present, he 
would keep the prisoners at Lecompton, as so many of his forces 
must be drawn away from the fort. It was impossible to get to 
Lawrence by way of Westport, and all travellers thither must go 
up the river to Leavenworth, and across the Delaware Keserve. 
The boats were getting scarce. One came up heavily loaded with 
Mormons ; every place on the upper deck was crowded with large 
emigrant-wagons, and the living freight packed in at every corner. 
Dirt and lilth were visible, and the looks of these women, '* sealed " 
to the Mormon faith and their tyrannical husbands, was one of 
utter misery. About the same time, one of the down boats car- 
ried, as passengers, two of the Mormon elders on their way to 
Washington, on business relating to the admission of Utah as a 
state. Several ladies on board were able to distinguish them, 
among the crowd, from their coarse, brutal looks. 

At last the Keystone came, and, on the evening of the 13th, 
in company with a gentleman and lady from Massachusetts, whose 
intelligence and pleasing ways had contributed much to the com- 
fort of my detention in Kansas city, I left for Leavenworth, and 
they for a summer stay at Council Bluffs. 

On the boat we overheard a conversation between a Kentucky 
lady and a lady from Missouri. The former said, 

" They are having exciting times in Kansas! " 

" Yes ; a great many have gone over from the border coun- 
ties." 

" Well, Kansas will be a free state in the end. The Yankees 
have determined upon it, and when they have determined upon a 
thing, they have so much more energy than the Southerners, they 
will accomplish it." 

The idea did not seem to please the Missouri lady, but she 
replied, " If I lived in Kansas, I would want it a free state ; but 
to live in Missouri, I want it a slave state." 

" We had slaves in Kentucky, but we preferred to come to 
Kansas, because we know property is more valuable in a free 



TWO WEEKS ON THE MISSOURI BORDER. 297 

state, and its institutions are more desirable. Many people in 
Kentucky are of the same mind." 

The rudder of the boat was slightly damaged by running into 
the bank in the fog of the morning, and, becoming more dense 
every moment, it was impossible to keep the boat under way. 
Hence, when we reached Leavenworth, the stage had gone to Law- 
rence. The next day was Sunday, and it rained heavily, and all 
the morning of Monday, but an acquaintance was over from Law- 
rence, and " if I would risk getting a drenching," he said, " we 
would start." I was "enough of a water-fowl not to mind rain, 
and, to the surprise of the pleasant Kentucky family with whom 
I stopped, I appeared all ready for a drive when the little blue 
bit of sky was continually varying from the size of one's hand to 
that of a yard square, and the sun was playing '* hide-and-seek " 
with the dark clouds. Save the driving out of our way at one 
time, and the slippery state of the roads, we had a pleasant ride 
through the beautiful Delaware country. It needs only some 
pleasant houses, grouped among the clumps of trees, to give it the 
look of a long-settled country. 

Leavenworth, situated on the Missouri, has the finest landing 
for many miles. The site of the town is broken with small hills, 
and some fine swells in the distance invite residences. Tasteful 
hands prepared the town-site, and left many trees and shrubs 
standing. The advantage Leavenworth has over the other settle- 
ments, in procuring pine lumber directly from St. Louis, shows 
itself in the good-sized dwellings built with porticos and piaz- 
zas, and yards neatly fenced. There are, at present, no large 
public buildings. Thirty stores stand near the levee, and have 
done a large business. The present state of things in the terri- 
tory has produced a general depression in trade, and none feel it 
more than people at Leavenworth. The majority of the settlers 
are free-state people, mostly from Pennsylvania. Owing to its 
nearness to Missouri, and ease of access to the border men, they 
have come over in crowds, and, uniting with the few " fire-eaters " 
in and around Leavenworth, have controlled everything, making 
mob-law the rule. Leavenworth must, unavoidably, be a large 



298 KANSAS. 

commercial point in the West, and now holds the first rank in size 
in the territory. 

As the evening was ilist coming, we emerged from the heavy 
timber on the north bank of the Kansas, and waited for the ferry- 
boat on the other side of the river. 

Desolation sat in the despoiled city ; the one broken wall of the 
hotel was yet standing; there was no home on Mt. Oread; plun- 
der and fire had wrought the ruin there, and the destructiveness 
of the mob had only been satiated by the girdling of every tree 
transplanted there. 

Still there was a home-feeling in getting back to Lawrence, 
notwithstanding my husband v»'as in prison and myself homeless. 
And most heartily were the glad assurances of welcome and inter- 
est, from many friends clustered around, reciprocated. 

There was a new excitement in Lawrence. A man, by the name 
of Hopkins, had been shot the evening before. He was found 
dead in the house of a new comer, named Haney. The circum- 
stances seemed to prove that, in attempting to rid the world of a 
monster who had boasted of having killed three men and four 
Indians, he was himself shot. The immediate cqjise of the feeling 
against Haney was, his having acted as deputy sheriff of Douglas 
County in the arrest of David Evans, familiarly known as " Buck- 
skin." This Evans was the man who effectually cowed the pro- 
slavery men, and especially the Hungarian doctor, in the case of 
the free black man, the summer before. Evans, being a Missou- 
rian, and a free-state man, was exposed, as all other free-state 
men coming from slave states are, to the intense bitterness of the 
border ruffians. The dragoon government was set in motion. 
Haney, with fourteen dragoons, stopped and inquired for " Dave." 
He being the one accosted, and suspecting some foul play, told 
them he was " round there." As they went to look for him, 
" Dave " was fast nearing the ravine ; but they espied him, and, 
with a loud halloo, hastened after him, while Haney shouted, 

" Shoot him ! shoot him ! shoot the d d rascal ! " The officer 

in command cried, " Don't shoot," but at the cry, " shoot him," 
Dave had stopped. Haney demanded his arms, but Evans, dis- 
daining to notice him, said to the officer of the dragoons, stepping 



TWO WEEKS ON THE MISSOURI BOEDER. 299 

near him, " I can't give my pistol to tliat d d rascal, but if 

you want it, captain, here it is." Lecompton was the destination 
of the prisoner, and he rode by the side of the officer, declaring, 
" he would not keep company with the d d sneaking scoun- 
drel." Haney showed no writ, and the threat, " I 'II subdue 
you," was carried out by the U. S. dragoons. Evans was taken 
to Lecompton, and put in chains, like a felon. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE U. S. CAMP — DISPERSION OF THE LEGISLATURE. 

Early on the morning of the 17th, Tvith a brother of my hus- 
band, and a friend, I left for Lecompton, or for Uncle Sam's Bas- 
tile on the Kansas prairies, which had been moved a mile and a 
half, or two miles, from that tribunal of justice. It was only a 
day or two since persons had been allowed to go in, and some 
doubt existed whether I could have the privilege. TVe came in 
sight of the tents. There were three in one row, with poles set 
along in front, and cloth spread over them, and upon the tents, 
making a long shady place, which E. told me was called the 
" pavilion." The tents being a few feet apart, the cloth stretch- 
ing over them, made a fine place to sit, for the table and all culi- 
nary arrangements. Another row of tents was pitched in front of 
these, with only a driveway between, while the captain's tent was 
on a rise of ground a little distant. 

The carriage was driven to the officers' tent, and A. went to 
inquire if we could go in. He looked vexed as he returned, and 
said, " You can go in." I said, " Can't you go too ? " " Not with- 
out going to Jones, for a pass, and unless C. wants to see me very 
much, I '11 not go to him." 

I ran down, and met my husband just outside the tent ; the sen- 
tinel was pacing back and forth, close to the pavilion, musket in 
hand. He stopped a half moment at the sight of a new face, then 
resumed the everlasting tread. I went back to tell A. that C. 
wished to see him, and he started for Lecompton. The prisoners 
looked well, with the exception of Judge S., who was suffering with 
chills, and were contented, and hopeful that their imprisonment 
would accomplish more good than their liberty could. The prison- 



U. S. CAMP — DISPERSION OF THE LEGISLATURE. 301 

ers now had their papers, and letters, and two or three friends had 
been in. Some books also had been sent up. For exercise, they 
walked in front of the tents, brought wood from the timber close by, 
and AYater from the spring a little distant. They notified the 
gaard of their desire to take these short trips, by saying, " I want 
a gun ; " and a man with a musket would be provided. The screech- 
ing of the trumpets, calling the soldiers to their various duties, 
added not a little to a headache, induced by weariness and anxiety. 
If ever I realized that there was more truth than poetry in the 
words of Mrs. Swisshelm, when she said, " I never see a man in 
regimentals but I think somebody has lost his monkey," it was 
when I saw daily the want of power to act out one's manliness, 
while remaining in the army. One's feelings were continually out- 
raged by arrests made, the troops acting as " posse comitatus." To 
join the army is to become an automaton, in action at least. 

On the 19th, Haney again appeared in the streets of Lawrence, 
at the head of about forty dragoons. Mr. Legate was in the 
street. Haney commanded him to assist in arresting a Mr. Col- 
burn ; he refused to do it. 

" Haney became excited, and ordered the troops to arrest Mr. 
Legate, and take him to the camp. They then commanded the 
prisoner to walk before them, which he rciused doing under any 
circumstances whatever. One oP the dragoons then dismounted, 
and Legate took his seat in the saddle, and a company of horse 
conducted him to the camp. 

" Haney then rode up and down Massachusetts-street with the 
troops, looking for some one to make prisoner ; at the same time 
swearing vengeance against the people of Lawrence, and declaring 
that ' he would keep the troops here until the snow fell, if necessary, 
to arrest the free-state men or abolitionists ; ' ' the d — d town 
must be subdued,' etc. 

" At this time he saw IMajor Hoyt walking across the street. 
He immediately drove up to where Hoyt was, followed by the dra- 
goons, and said : 

" ' Mr. Hoyt, you are my prisoner.' 

" ' By what authority do you arrest me? ' asked Hoyt. 

" * By the authority of the territorial laws,' replied Haney, 
26 



302 KANSAS. 

" Hoyt then demanded to see the writs for his arrest. The 
deputy said he had none. Hoyt then refused to be molested by 
hira, and proceeded to walk across the street. Haney did not 
know what to do at this crisis. He was relieved from his dilemma 
by the lieutenant of the company, riding up to Hoyt, and com- 
manding him to halt, and saying, 

" ' I arrest you ; you are my prisoner, and must go with me.' 

" The dragoons surrounded their victim, and he was forced to go 
to the camp. The soldiers soon returned, and went to a grocery, 
where the^^ were all treated to a drink. The whiskey was passed 
around among them in large wooden buckets, and they were allowed 
to drink as they could. They then returned to camp and took the 
prisoners to Lecompton. 

" When they reached there, Gov. Shannon refused to recognize 
Haney as having any authority to arrest prisoners, and informed 
the worthy that he had no right to bring prisoners there. 

" Sheriff Jones was on hand, and prepared papers for the rear- 
rest of the prisoners instanter. 

" Gov. Shannon, seeing that Jones had the advantage of possessing 
' legal ' papers for the arrest, said no more, and the prisoners were 
then taken to a cabin. Mr. Legate was put in irons by order of 
the sheriff, and they were both locked up for the night." 

The same night, the soldiers, in a state of intoxication, were 
prowling about Lawrence, breaking into houses, and making a 
noise generally. At this time the people of Lawrence came in 
carriage-loads to see the " traitors." Capt. Walker, the officer in 
command, had power, for a few da^'s, to allow any persons to come 
in. The opportunity was improved. They came bringing books, 
strawberries, gooseberries, figs, lemons, prunes, ice-creams, and early 
vegetables. There was a general thoughtfulness for the " prison- 
ers," and none came empty-handed. Little Marshal Cramer, whose 
inferior, even distressed looking face, has gained him the soubriquet 
of " monkey-faced," called one day with Col. Preston, who had 
been one of my husband's guard on his removal from Lexington. 
He did not say anything, but he evidently thought the prisoners 
were bearing the changes of life too lightly. He gave the captain 
orders not to let any one in, or even letters. Then there was a 



U. S. CAMP — DISPERSION OF THE LEGISLATURE. 803 

day or two, when persons coming were not allowed to see the 
prisoners, but Mrs. J. and I could go out to the captain's tent, 
and see them. I was much amused one day, when a gentleman 
from Lawrence with his wife came. He had also with him the 
wife of a gentleman, against whom the pro-slavery party had some 
bitterness, and she was introduced to the captain and lieutenant 
by her maiden name. She was very young and girlish looking, 
and as she was talking pleasantly with the lieutenant, though ear- 
nestly, upon the outrageous course of President Pierce, he, in a 
laughing way, said, " You are a little fanatic, but you '11 marry some 
Southerner one of these days." She laughed, and went on talking. 
The lieutenant is of southern birth, but is far from intolerant, and 
no one could have treated the prisoners more gentlemanly. Capt. 
Walker too seemed to feci hurt at this " shutting down " upon the 
prisoners, and told me "he would do anything he could for them, 
but he must obey orders." Marshal Donaldson came in a day or 
two, and denied having sent any new orders to Cramer, and again 
any one could come in. 

Evans was released toward the last of June. Efforts had been 
made to bail him out, but the bogus Probate Judge, Dr. J. N. 0. 
P. Wood, of former notoriety at Lawrence, fixed the bail at five 
thousand dollars. The love of freedom is a crime in Kansas. The 
probable reason of the release was a disinclination on the part of 
the pro-slavery men to bear the extra expense of prisoners. Not 
being " traitors," the United States government could not be charged 
with their support. 

On the 26th, two young men arrived in Lawrence, from New 
Fork, by means of a pass from Atchison. Sixty men coming to 
settle in the territory, with ploughs, harrows, and all farming 
implements, were turned back, after being disarmed, first at Lex- 
ington, then at Leavenworth, by Atchison and Stringfellow. 

The Missourians not only have become plunderers and highway- 
men, but pirates, in the service of the present administration. A 
few days after, Dr. Cutter's party, from Massachusetts, were also 
robbed, and sent back. At Liberty, the cannon on the shore was 
fired, and directions were given to the gunner " not to fire too 
high, as people were on the opposite bank." At Weston, Buford, 



304 KANSAS. 

and twenty others, came on board, and kept them under strict sur- 
veillance until the boat reached St. Louis. 

While such deeds of blood and violence were being committed 
on the river, the Indian agent, Gray, was killed, near Westport, by 
some of Buford's men. Upon his replying in the affirmative to 
the question, " Are you in favor of making Kansas a free state ? " 
he was immediately shot. 

Bands of the marauders infested the woods on the Westport 
route. They plundered wagons of provisions, for subsistence, and 
struck down the unwary. In camp we were awakened one morn- 
ing by loud words near by. One of the " chivalry " was talking 
to Col. Sumner in no gentlemanly way. 

When the news of the nomination of Buchanan and Brecken- 
ridge was received in Lecompton, a meeting was called. The cel- 
ebrated " Sheriff Jones " was the president of the meeting, while 
kindred spirits filled the other offices. The following resolutions 
were unanimously adopted : 

" Resolved, That we have entire confidence in James Buchanan 
and John C. Breckenridge, as sound and true national democrats, 
and believe them to be the best men who could have been selected 
as the exponents of the principles of the platform adopted by the 
Cincinnati convention, and noble standard-bearers, who will rally 
to themselves and their platform all Union-loving men and true 
democrats. 

" Eesolved, That we do most heartily approve and endorse the 
leading measures of the administration of Franklin Pierce, and 
have the utmost confidence in the integrity and patriotism of S. 
A. Douglas ; and while some of us may have preferred the nomi- 
nation of one or two other of these able statesmen, yet we do 
heartily endorse the nomination of James Buchanan, and look 
upon his election as necessary to the stability and safety of the 
Union." 

On the 23d the prisoners received an accession to their num- 
bers in the persons of Capt. John Brown, Jr., and H. H. Wil- 
'iams, likewise dignified with the name of " traitors." The former 



U. S. CAMP — DISPERSION OF THE LEGISLATUEE. 305 

was still insane from the ill-treatment received while in charge of 
the troops. These gentlemen, upon hearing of the intended attack 
upon Lawrence in May, had, in company with one hundred others 
from the region of Osawattomie, left their homes for her defence. 
Having heard, when a few miles distant, that the people of Law- 
rence would make no resistance to the force brought against them, 
they returned to their homes. Fifteen of them were at first taken 
prisoners by a part of Whitfield's gang of ruffians. Seven were 
rescued, and eight taken for trial to Tecumseh, after being kept in 
irons two weeks, under the guard of United States troops, Capt. 
Wood, of company C, commanding, 

Capt. Brown had a rope tied around his arms so tightly, and 
drawn behind him, that he will for years bear the marks of the 
ropes, where they wore into his flesh. He was then obliged to 
hold one end of a rope, the other end being carried by one of the 
dragoons ; and for eight miles, in a burning sun, he was driven 
before them, compelled to go fast enough to keep from being tram- 
pled on by the horses. On being taken to Tecumseh, they were 
chained two and two, with a common trace-chain, and padlock at 
each end. It was so fixed as to clasp tightly around the ankle. 
One day they were driven thirty miles, with no food from early 
morning until night. The journey in a hot June day was most 
torturing to them. Their chains wore upon their ankles until one 
of them, unable to go further, was placed upon a horse. 

The testimony at Tecumseh was general against them, all alike ; 
but five were released, while the three, who are members of the 
Topeka Legislature, were retained. 

The people of Lecompton, hearing of the new arrival of the 
i'ree-state men in the territory, were in continued fears of attacks. 
Their days were filled with rumors of intended attacks, and their 
nights with vigils* For several days before the 3d of July, Col. 
Titus, and other choice spirits, had called upon Capt. Walker more 
frequently than usual, and the 81st of June was spent by them in 
consultation. July 1st, about eleven and a half o'clock, Mr. P., 
of the N. Y. Tribune, and E., the young lady who had been part 
of my household, came from Lawrence. Our plan had been for E. to 
remain witi me a few days, while Mrs. J. could go down to look 
26* 



306 KANSAS. 

after her famiJy at home. They were informed by the captain 
that they " could not come into the tents." Afterwards an unwill- 
ing consent was given that " E. could come in, and Mrs. J. go to 
Lawrence ; but Mrs. J could not come back until after the sixth, 
and not then if there was any trouble at Topeka." 

Mr. P. asked " what authority he had for such restrictions ; " 
and the officer's reply was, " I have authority." Mr. Deitzlcr 
also asked him " if he had orders from the marshal; " and his reply, 
given with a good deal of hesitancy, and an evident effort at dig- 
nity, " I do not act without orders," was certainly equivocal. 

After the carriage conveying our disappointed visitors back to 
Lawrence was fairly out of sight, Capt. W. returned to our tents, 
saying, " I forgot to mention that I shall move camp in about an 
hour. I will have a wagon here to convey you there." So, with 
finishing getting dinner, etc., the hour passed away, and Col. Titus' 
big wagon, greasy from having transported bacon, was obliged to 
wait a half hour, while I washed, and Mr. Deitzler dried the 
dishes. Judge Smith and my husband packing them in boxes and 
baskets. Mrs. J. was busy in other matters preparatory to a 
move, while the rest were striking the tents, and taking down our 
pavilion. At last we were packed in with bags, baskets, and any- 
thing we preferred carr3'ing in our own care, and jolted along the 
mile and a half in a scorching sun. A mule team was in advance. 
Some of the blue coats rode each side of us, and the main body 
of this portion of the President's army of subjugation brought up 
the rear. Out in the prairie, less than a mile from Lecompton, we 
came to a double log cabin, and as we alighted, and our chairs 
were taken from the wagon, the captain, pointing to the right hand 
cabin, said, " You can go in there, and stay." We went in. There 
was no window, and no air in the cabin ; but a woman, dressed in 
bright-red calico, with blue undersleeves, black mits, and shingle 
sun-bonnet, sat there sewing on a muslin of gay colors, in stripes 
of exceeding width. My husband said something to her ; but she 
seemed anything but social, and we took our chairs and walked out 
again. The space between the buildings was shady; so we sat 
there and read our newspapers, and looked at the men as they 
pitched the torts in the real ^f the cabin. 



U. S. CAMP — DISPERSION OF THE LEGISLATURE. 807 

The other room was occupied by the owner of the place, a Penn- 
sjlvanian and a free-state man ; and for a week only had this 
cabin been rented to a pro-slavery family. Neither of these fam- 
ilies had been consulted in this arrangement of the camp ; but a 
brother of the pro-slavery man, living in Lecompton, had expressed 
his approval. When the pro-slavery man came home at night, he 
made loud threats of " driving oif the free-state man, and holding 
his claim." 

Towards evening a padlock was tried upon the door, and at 
dark we were ordered to sleep in the log cabin, the family being 
driven from their home. It was the intention of Capt. W. to 
lock the door ; but Messrs. J. and D. talked to him so rousingly, 
telling him, " if they were to be hung, he had better begin then, 
as it would be better than suffocation," that he failed to carry 
his plans into execution. So seven men and two women had to 
stay in one little room without a window. The mattresses lay so 
close upon the floor that ours was slid partly under the bedstead, 
upon which Mrs. J. sat up to fan herself until near morning, when 
she retreated to the tents for a short nap. Had the want of air, 
and the oppression been less, sleep would have been prevented by 
the continual noise during the night. Fifteen " law-and-order " 
men, from Lecompton, came in at different times in the night to 
offer their services in case of a rescue ; and that Capt. W. took 
them to his tent and "treated" them, has never been denied. 
All night "Halt!" "Who goes there?" "A friend." "Ser- 
geant of the guard ! " Advance ! " resounded. 

July od. — Yesterday and to-day the heat has been oppressive. 
Some of the prisoners suggest that it is greater on account of 
our proximity to Lecompton. They say " they can smell the brim- 
stone and see the smoke." K part of our things were not brought 
from the other camp, as promised, and, without any shade, we 
have to cook and eat, suffering much from the heat. If we did 
not laugh and make merry, the wrinkles in our faces would become 
indelibly fixed. While we, as all dwellers in Kansas, feel a terri- 
ble hatred to tyranny, which those living in quiet homes can never 
appreciate, we are still quick to catch the stray sunbeams on our 
pathway, and to our courage add cheerfulness. Judge S., with 



308 KANSAS. 

his dry saying-, would make the longest and most sedate couirte- 
nance shorten in a smile ; and no company of the same number 
could have been found with a more pervading love of fun, and a 
greater fund of good-humor. So, however " dark the cloud, we 
find the silver lining." 

There is an ever-present indignation at the course of the admin- 
istration and its underlings ; but with it there is the realization, 
strong as the " everlasting hills," that its villany will work its 
own ruin. 

Woodson, Fain, and other " law-and-order " men from Lecomp- 
ton, were in camp yesterday. Several of these men have sat in 
their wagon watching us a long time to-day. They tried quite per- 
severingly to learn who were the tenants of the various tents, and 
" which was which " of the prisoners. One of them came into our 
tents without asking permission of the captain, and was ordered 
away several times by the guard before leaving. They appeared 
to feel themselves particularly privileged above other men, and it 
was amusing to see them march along with great nonchalance in 
spite of the sentinel's cry of " Halt ! " but it was more so when a 
sudden period was put to their locomotion, as the guard levelled 
his gun at them, and they, with an assumed air of innocent igno- 
rance, cried, " Halt ! halt ! is it us you are hallooing at ? " 

Capt. Brown has been ill several days ; and, for a day or two, 
delirious. To get the air, he lay out upon the ground in the 
shadow of the tents. Physicians from Lawrence were sent for ; 
also provisions. 

Towards evening great preparations for defence were made. 
Large government wagon-bodies vrere taken from the wheels, and 
placed against the open space between the cabins. They were 
filled with corn, barrels, and sacks. Capt. W. flitted around, as 
though he had the afi"airs of a continent resting upon his shoulders, 
until the barricades were completed. He also compelled the free- 
state flimily to vacate their room. He knocked the chinking out 
of the walls and took possession. 

The family went half a mile to their nearest neighbor's to sleep, 
and every night and morning we had a general move between the 



U. S. CAMP — DISPEESION OF THE LEGISLATURE. 309 

house and tents. When the " tattoo " sounded, it was our signal 
for retreat to the poor little prison. 

Drs. P. and T. did not arrive at camp until after nine o'clock, 
and Capt. Brown was obliged to go to the officers' tent to see 
them. Provisions and clothing, brought in by another team, were 
taken there, as well as the mail, and not an article escaped strict 
search. 

Ath. — There were three men in from Lecompton last night. The 
captain took them into his cabin to show them the port-holes. There 
was also a ruse last night. A pistol-shot was fired ; then the word 
came that the picket-guard had been fired upon. Capt. W. was 
in motion ; but some little time elapsed before he sent any one 
down to the guard. The matter was probably understood among 
the men. 

There has been no battle yet ! The wagon-bodies are all whole, 
and the corn-bags yet undisturbed ! Capt. W.'s head is yet safe, 
and the world moves on ! At daybreak there were three more 
ruffians at the captain's tent. About eight o'clock Crowder, one 
of the pretended officials, came also to his tent, and had a long 
conference. The horses of the privates are continually lent to 
these men, of which they complain bitterly. We did not receive 
our papers from the officers' tent until the middle of the forenoon. 
(A letter was never given to one of the prisoners.) 

Was there ever such a glorious country as this, with petty 
tyrants made weak-headed by a little power? Austrian despot- 
ism is liberty in comparison. 

We heard this morning, from Lecompton, that the cause of our 
removal here was to protect that town ; an agreement of mutual 
protection having been entered into by the people there and Capt. 
W. We are also acquainted with the movements of our ^friends, 
notwithstanding the watchful vigilance of our heroic keeper. 

^th. — Last night brought the intelligence of the dispersion of 
the Legislature at the point of the bayonet. Col. Sumner arrived 
here this morning, and three companies of troops passed by. 
Capt. W. came down to our tents with Col. Sumner. Col. S. 
said "he was sorry the Legislature did not disperse at the 



310 KANS 6.S. 

reading of the proclamation ; that the free-state men had injured 
their own cause." 

My husband replied, " that he was sorry they dispersed until 
he fired upon them, and, if he had been there, he would have 
obliged him to do so." 

" You could not have obliged me to do it, for I should not 
have fired." When Col. S. was asked what he would have done, 
he said, " I might have tied your arms behind you." 

My husband told him the constitution gave them a right to 
meet and memorialize Congress The treatment we had received 
the last week was also plainly stated to Col. S., and he at once 
ordered our letters given us, and our friends to be allowed to 
come in. Judge S. was very ill again, and in his delirium the 
week's course of discipline seemed to be on his mind. 

Another page has been written, in the history of the American 
people, in unparalleled infamy. Another scene in this dark and 
tragic drama of crushing out a free people has been enacted. 
Instead of the brilliant panorama and festive scenes which for 
years past, on this anniversary, have spoken the heart-gladness 
for liberties gained through years of struggle, the people of this 
mighty nation wear sackcloth and mourning. The star-spangled 
banner no longer waves over a free people, but is draggled through 
the blood of those slain, at the bidding of a merciless adminis- 
tration, on Kansas plains. Mr. P., an eye-witness, eloquently 
tells the thrilling story : 

" The national flag floated proudly over Topeka on the Fourth 
of July ; and over the hall of legislation, or state buildings, was 
displayed a flag, American in every respect, save that among the 
stars was a larger additional star on the corner- — the orphan star 
of Kansas. 

"Around the large new hotel the convertion had assembled, and 
proceeded to transact its business. Som » half a dozen military 
companies, in handsome uniform, paraded about, Lacies prome- 
naded, with little banners flying from their parasols. The scene 
was highly interesting. 

" In spite of the apparent indifierence, many hearts throbbed 



U. S. CAMP — DISPERSION OF THE LEGISLATURE. 311 

anxiously for tlie denouement of the day's proceedings. It was 
well known that nearly all the military force in Kansas was con- 
centrated within a few hundred yards in Topeka, and that in the 
camp of Col. Sumner was Secretary Woodson, the infamous 
Jeffreys Lecompte, Donaldson, who led on the plundering hordes 
to the sack of Lawrence, Judges Cato and Ehnore, and other 
influential pro-slavery men; and it was also known that those 
men, who have shown the most inveterate hostility to the settlers 
of Kansas, were plotting mischief against them. All this was 
known, and, although it might make the pulsation of some hearts 
beat quicker, it neither disturbed nor affected their action. 

" About ten o'clock. United States Marshal Donaldson, accom- 
panied by Judge Elmore, entered the town, and gave it to be 
understood that he had a proclamation to read. The convention 
paused in its business, and invited these gentlemen to the stand. 
Donaldson being, like Moses, not particularly well qualified for 
public speaking, called on his Aaron, in the shape of Judge 
Elmore, who read the proclamation of the President, dated in 
February — a law-and-order document, the signification of wliich 
was comprehended at the time, and which was now made to do 
its work in the drama, ' We will subdue you.' Next was read 
the second proclamation of Gov. Shannon, issued a month ago ; 
and then followed the proclamation of Secretary Woodson, which, 
acting under presidential authority, commanded the Legislature 
to disperse, and threatened it with violence from the troops in 
case they did not submit to this order. The proclamation being 
read, these gentlemen made their exodus as they had made their 
advent, neither being accompanied by any external or visible 
symptoms of a moral earthquake ; and the convention proceeded 
with its business, which had been interrupted. This evidently cha- 
grined Donaldson, who turned round and interrupted the debate 
upon a resolution, by asking if we had any reply to carry down 
to Col. Sumner. The president informed Mr. D. that this assem- 
blage was not the Legislature, to which the proclamation had 
been specially addressed, but asked him if it was desired that 
we should send any reply. Donaldson said No, but, if we had 
anything to send, he would convey it. The president, or behalf 



312 KANSAS. 

of the convention, informed him that we had no communication 
to send. 

" These gentlemen left, and matters went on as before. It was 
nearly twelve o'clock, the sun was blazing down, and the ther- 
mometer stood at 100°, when we learned that Col. Sumner, with 
five companies of cavalry and two pieces of brass cannon, were 
leaving their camp and approaching Topeka in full military array. 
Although they were only two hundred yards ofiF, the report did 
not disturb the convention or other matters. If resistance had 
been intended. Col. Sumner never would have entered Topeka, 
and would have been met before he could get possession. It had 
been determined that no resistance should be offered the United 
States troops, but that wo should proceed with our business, and 
let them do their worst. 

" But Col. Sumner fulfilled his duty in as gentlemanly a man- 
ner as such wretched orders could be obeyed. At the moment of 
his approach, the two Topeka companies, F. and G-., were drawn 
up before the legislative hall building. They had just marched 
up the street, preceded by martial music, and had formed in front 
of the State House to receive a banner the ladies had made 
for company Gr. The street was filled with a crowd, among whom 
were many ladies and children, when Col. Sumner appeared with 
his forces, rapidly debouching into Kansas Avenue. With great 
rapidity and considerable military skill he threw his men forward, 
and by rapid orders, shouted in a stern, shrill voice, formed his 
companies into the strongest form they could occupy for their 
service. Perhaps many hearts beat faster when they thought 
that a scene of carnage might in the next few minutes blot out 
the startling and brilliant panorama. On the one hand, the 
armed and uniformed dragoons, with flashing sabres; on the 
other, only t-wo Topeka companies, with their two banners, one 
of them just received, bearing the inscription, ' Our lives for our 
rights.' Nobly they stood. While the dragoons approached, the 
band was playing, but the drummers continued to drum until the 
drumsticks nearly touched the noses of the advancing horses of 
the dragoons, and only stopped when Sumner requested them. 
One little boy was beating the kettle-drum, and rattled it man- 



U. S. CAMP — DISPERSION ,0F THE LEGISLATURE. 313 

fully, never turning to look at the dragoons. In the rapid move- 
ments of the dragoons in forming into position, they pressed on 
the Topeka companies, but those men kept their position, and 
only stepped out of their ranks when the horses were ridden up 
to them, and only then far enough not to be trampled on. The 
sharp, shrill voice of Sumner rung through Kansas Avenue and 
all around the State House, as he gave orders, and the dragoons 
wheeled into form. The two pieces of artillery were planted 
about a hundred yards up the street. They were said to be 
loaded with grape. The slow-match was lighted. 

"After the dragoons were placed so as to suit Col. Sumner's 
taste, he dismounted, and walked towards the Assembly rooms. 
Both Senate and House stood adjourned to meet at twelve o'clock; 
a fact of which Col. Sumner appeared to be aware. The lower 
house was just assembling, when Col. Sumner inquired in the 
hall where the Legislature met. Mr. S. J. Tappan, Clerk (the 
Speaker, Mr. Minard, being absent), called the Legislature to 
order by rapping with the gavel on the Speaker's desk. He then 
called the roll, and, there not being a quorum, sent the Sergeant- 
at-Arras after the absentees. AYhen Sumner had first entered, 
and had been invited forward, he was offered a chair at the desk ; 
he jocularly asked if they wanted to make him Speaker. This 
was received by a hearty yhout and laughter. The rooms were 
crowded by the citizens to witness the spectacle, and some ladies 
got into the room. The roll was again called by Mr. C. S. Pratt, 
Recording Clerk, and the absentees marked, when Col. Sumner 
rose and said : 

" ' Gentlemen, I am called upon this day to perform the 
most painful duty of my whole life. Under the authority of the 
President's proclamation, I am here to disperse this Legislature, 
and therefore inform you that you cannot meet. I therefore 
order you to disper.-:e. God knows that I have no party feeling 
in this matter, and will hold none so long as I occupy my present 
position in Kansas. I have just returned from the border?, where 
I have been sending home companies of Missourians, ard now I 
am ordered here to disperse you. Such are my orders, and you 
27 



314 KANSAS. 

must disperse, I now command you to disperse. I repeat that 
this is the most painfal duty of my whole life.' 

" Judge Schuyler asked, ' Col. Sumner, are we to understand 
that the Legislature are driven out at the point of the bayonet ? ' 

" Colonel Sumner : ' I shall use all the forces in my command 
to carry out my orders.' 

" The Legislature dispersed. Some of the members in town 
did not appear at the hall ; but the immortal number who re- 
sponded to their names occupy a proud position. Some pleasant 
interchange of civilities occurred between Col. Sumner and per- 
sons in the hall — members and others. He left the hall, and 
mounted his horse, when he was reminded that he had not dis- 
persed the Senate. He dismounted, and returned to the Senate 
Chamber, Donaldson going with him ; Donaldson having also 
been present at the dispersion of the Legislature. The Senate 
had not yet been convened, as it was but very little past the 
appointed hour ; but Col. Sumner, addressing them in their col- 
lective capacity, proceeded to disperse them in terms something 
similar to those used in the hall below. When he concluded 
there was a pause, the senators standing in a circle silently but 
respectfully. No one was in the hall but the senators, the Senate 
officers, Col. Sumner, Donaldson, and your correspondent. Col. 
Sumner broke the pause by asking if they intended to disperse. 
With calmness and dignity, ^ftlr. Thornton, President of the 
Senate, replied that the Senate had not yet convened, and could 
not make any reply. He asked Col. Sumner if he could convene 
the Senate, so that they could make a reply to him. Col. Sumner 
replied that his orders were to prevent them from meeting, and 
that they could not convene, but must disperse. 

" Here Donaldson stepped forward, and made the outrageous 
demand that the senators should promise not to assemble again, or 
he would arrest every member. Monstrous usurping villany foi 
a federal officer ! If he had writs from a court to serve on eithei 
of these officers, it was his duty to serve them independent of any 
contingency ; if he had none, he had no right to arrest or molest 
a man, and as little thus to insult popular representatives thus 
assembled. Several senators told Col. Sumner that, when ihxM 



U. S. CAMP — DISPERSION OF THE LEGISLATIVE. 315 

dispersed by him, they would of course disperse. Mr. Pillsbury 
said that they were there in no condition to resist the United 
States troops, and must of course disperse. Thus was the Senate 
dispersed. 

" When Col. Sumner first entered the town, a committee from 
the mass convention immediately waited on him to ask if he 
intended to disperse the convention, or disband the military com- 
panies on parade. He replied that he did not ; he merely 
intended to disperse the Legislature. While the dragoons were 
thus drawn up, and while Col. Sumner made this reply, three 
cheers were given for Col. Sumner. Mr. Redpath cried, ' Three 
cheers for Gov. Robinson ! ' which were given very heartily, and 
then three cheers for liberty. After Col. Sumner had dispersed 
both branches of the Assembly, and just as he proceeded to 
march off with his forces, in order to show that they respected 
him for his gentlemanly conduct, and did not hold him responsible 
for the grievous outrage, three cheers were given for Col. Sumner 
again, three cheers for the national flag, three cheers for the State 
Legislature, three cheers for John C. Fremont, which were given 
as the dragoons were moving off, and three groans for Pierce." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

MEX — FREE-STATE MEN AROUSED. 

July 1th. — "We experienced a heavy rain yesterday. It poured 
through the tents, wetting everything. This tent-life in the burn- 
ing sun and pouring rajins will be a good recipe for ague or 
cholera. So, besides the discomfort of the present, we have these 
in anticipation. Capt. TV. left on Saturday, and Capt. Sackett, a 
noble-looking man, has the prisoners now in charge. 

To-day a gentleman has been in camp from Illinois. He with a 
party of seventeen were robbed at Leavenworth of their arms and 
farming utensils. Several of them were hunted for their lives. 
(Aid was afterwards asked of Gen. Smith in recovering these 
goods, a letter being sent to him from Woodson counselling such 
interference ; but he declined giving it.) Also, eight families 
from Illinois, when near Platte city, were turned back by one 
hundred and fifty men, armed with United States muskets and 
bayonets. The stereotyped questions of " Where are you from? " 
and " Where going ? " were put to the emigrants. The leader of the 
ruJB&ans said, " I suppose you 've hearn that we don't allow any 
movers to go through into the territory. ' When the ruffians pro- 
claimed their intention of searching the wagons, an Iowa man 
objected, but a revolver was quickly drawn upon him. After 
searching their wagons twice, and taking all the arms, they took 
them back under guard to Liberty, Missouri, telling them " they 
could go where they pleased, so they did not go into the ter- 
ritory." 

What new scheme of villany, for the subjugation of Kansas-, 
shall we hear? Step by step the work has gone on. Missourians 



N, ETC. 317 

have invaded the territory, and, by force, taken possession of the 
polls. They have trampled upon the right of the people to make 
their own laws. They have framed a code of laws which would 
have disgraced the dark ages. They have denied the citizens of 
the territory the right of free speech. They have, for weeks, be- 
sieged a town under the leadership of the governor. They have 
burned and sacked towns under the United States Marshal, the 
aforesaid governor offering no word of disapproval ; they have 
murdered, with all the cruelties of the Fejee islands, peaceable 
settlers. Without restraint they have robbed and pillaged. They 
have blockaded the Missouri river. No more bloody or meaner 
pirates, sailing under black flags, ever infested the high seas, years 
ago. Now the debauched and desperate robbers search and send 
back peaceable emigrants, their wagons laden with the emblems 
of their occupation, ploughs, and farming implements. 

We have moved camp again to-day, two miles further from 
Lecompton. It was my first experience in the inside of these huge 
covered wagons. I protested that I would rather walk than 
attempt to mount into such a vehicle ; but they all said ride. By 
extra effort E. and I got in, attempting to find a place to sit 
among the mattresses. At first move, one of the mules, by rap- 
idly throwing up his feet, was soon out of harness.' The jolting 
of the wagon was intolerable when the mules travelled faster than 
a walk. 

2^th. — July days are passing with little variety. We have a 
great deal of company ; many days four or five carriage loads. 
They are people from Lawrence, and other settlements, while 
many strangers travelling in the territory call to " look in upon 
the traitors." A. number of ladies living on claims some miles 
from Lawrence, whom we had never met, have visited us in camp. 
They are very intelligent and refined. 

Gen. Smith has arrived in Leavenworth. As he was passing 
Delaware, a little settlement among the hills, the boat was hailed, 
and obliged to stop. A band of rufiians, gathered from the " four 
corners of Satan's dominions," demanded, "Are there any abolition- 
ists on board ? " Gov. Shannon and his wife also came up the 
river in the same boat. They came through in the stage from 
27* 



318 KANSAS. 

Kansas cHy to Lecompton. When passing places of more than 
usual lo^jliness, she would say, "she should like a plantation 
there, with about two dozen negroes." To the question how she 
liked "border ruffians," she said, " she liked them infinitely better 
than Massachusetts paupers." Every time any attempt was made 
by others in the stage to vindicate the free-state cause, she re- 
marked, "she did not wish to hear anything about it," She 
remained scarcely a week in Kansas, and, in reply to the ques- 
tion, " Will you return to Kansas ? " she said, " I should like to 
live in Kansas if it is a slave state, I suffer so much where I am 
in associating with abolitionists." It would be kind in the gov- 
ernor to have regard for her sufferings, and go into some obscurity, 
where she could be relieved from the enlightened intelligence of 
Ohio. 

Col. Titus, a few days ago, told a man who came to him for 
money to buy a claim, with oaths, " Wait, and we will get it any 
how. Xow is the time to drive out the d — d Yankees." 

Acting upon this impression, probably, two days since, he at- 
tacked a young man, living on a claim two miles from Lecompton. 
After beating him severely, and jumping upon him, he ordered an 
accomplice, standing by, to fire his house. A free-state man 
immediately talked plainly to Gov. S. in relation to it, and con- 
cluded by telling him, " if he did not prevent such outrages, the 
people would." 

Gov. S. immediately sent for troops to protect Titus. Free- 
state men are driven from their claims, beaten and killed. Then 
the governor employs the troops to protect the assassins. Such is 
dragoon government in Kansas. It leaves the free-state people 
exposed to all outrages ; and, when they would assert their rights, 
and take care of themselves by driving out the ruffians, the dra- 
goons protect them by orders of the governor. Gov. Shannon 
has said, repeatedly, that the state " prisoners, if charged, would 
be tried ; if tried, convicted ; and, if convicted, hung." Judge 
Lecompte has made similar statements. Woodson has said, " they 
did not expect there would be a trial, but they meant to keep 
fhem imprisoned." 

W. P. Fain, who acted as deputy marshal in arresting Judge 



" LAW-AND-ORDER " MEN, ETC. 319 

Smith and G. W. Deitzler, was in camp the other day. While talk- 
ing of the Toombs bill, the prisoners stated *' that they had no 
confidence in the President appointing men who would take the 
census fairly." He replied, " I would do it." 

When they asked him, " if he was to be one of the commis- 
sioners," he replied in the affirmative, thus showing the whole mat- 
ter to have been arranged before Stringfcllow went to Washing- 
ton. There was a heavy shower a few nights since. Our tent 
being the poorest shelter from rain of all, Capt. Sackett urged 
us to sleep in one of his ; but we preferred staying in our 
own. When the storm came, the wind was terrible. The rain 
came through in streams, and little lakes were standing in every 
hollow on the bed. At this unpleasant juncture, the captain sent 
down an India-rubber blanket, and, by removing the wet ones, no 
one suffered very severely. Towards morning, a heavy wind tore 
up a part of the stakes, and a drenching rain came full upon us. 
There was not a dry spot in the bed, and no more sleep for us. 
We had, however, a hearty laugh with Capt. Sackett, for the tent 
he had kindly assigned us was prostrate; the only one which 
had been so essentially affected by the storm. 

^Ist. — A man, by the name of Le Hays, active in the plunder- 
ing of Lawrence, has boasted much of the spoils which fell to his 
share — silver ware, ladies' apparel, besides guns. On the night 
of the 18th his house was entered by a party of men, and the 
guns were taken. Gov. Shannon is much excited about it. He 
says they were men from Lawrence and vicinity, and reports the 
house generally plundered. A strong guard was forthwith set 
around Lecompton. On the 20th, Cramer, the deputy marshal, 
came to camp, and ordered Capt. Sackett not to allow any person 
to converse with the prisoners privately. " His responsibility, 
since the sacking of Lawrence, in regard to the prisoners, had 
weighed upon him much." But Capt. Sackett at once informed 
him, " he need give himself no further trouble on the subject, as 
the responsibility of their safe-keeping rested upon him." The 
little fellow appeared pleased; but his wrath was only pent up. 
He met a man, soon after leaving camp, and poured it forth in 
execrations upon the captain, declaring that " liobinson was more 



320 KANSAS. 

the governor of the territory than Shannon ; " that " the prisoners 
should be taken from Capt. Sackett's charge, and that their lives 
would not be safe an hour." On the 21st the little deputy came 
again, with a letter from Gov. Shannon, in which he advised that 
"persons and letters be not allowed to go into camp ; that the 
territory had never been in so bad a condition ; that he believed the 
prisoners were implicated in these disturbances, and in great meas- 
ure the occasion of them." Cramer, at the captain's tent, also 
siid, "The governor don't know what to do." He talked so 
loudly, it was quite impossible not to hear what was said. It will be 
remembered that only two days had passed since the governor 
had been informed, that, if such outrages as that of Titus contin- 
ued, the people would try to suppress them. Word was returned 
to the governor from Capt. Sackett that " he had his orders from 
Col. Summer to give up the prisoners to the civil authorities, 
if unnecessary restrictions were placed upon them." Gov. Shannon 
immediately sent to Capt. Sackett, that " he did not know he 
had orders from Col. Sumner, but, if he had, of course he must 
obey them." He swore, however, " he would see if he could 
not make Capt. Sackett obey orders," and sent an express to 
Gen. Smith at the fort. Gen. Smith proposed not to interfere in 
matters in the territory, and, no change being made in the treat- 
ment of the prisoners, the governor was disappointed, and unable 
to carry out his threats. On the 19th he was heard to say, as 
at many other times, that " Go^. Eobinson would be hung." 

A wagon of provisions for Palmyra was robbed at Westport 
a few days since, and, on the 22d, Mr. P., a daguerrian of 
Lawrence, was nearly killed about a mile from town, by three 
men from Franklin. He was fired upon, and so badly wounded 
by their jumping upon his body, that he was very ill, and it is feared 
will never recover. Several bowie-knives were found in the grass 
next day. Major Sedgwick protected Titus only one night, and 
removed his camp about a fourth of a mile from Capt. Sackett's 
camp. Then Titus gathered about him a gang of desperadoes 
like himself. Major Kichardson is reported to have gone up 
north to intercept emigrants coming into the territory. Three 
men from Lecompton have been to see Capt. Walker, of the free- 



" LAW-AND-OIiDEE, " MEN, ETC. 323 

state forces. They desire all matters amicably adjusted. There 
is talk of vigilance committees of equal numbers, free-state men 
and pro-slavery, to try offenders. Gov. Shannon has expressed 
himself in favor of letting the territorial laws go, as the House 
has admitted free Kansas. Woodson is very strongly opposed. 

A few days since, a free-state man, in Lecompton, was ordered 
out of town by Wm. Donaldson. The people there, effectually 
fi-ightened at the turn affairs are taking, returned the compli- 
ment, ordering Donaldson to leave town. They immediately had 
a circular printed, inviting people into their town, and promising 
them safety. 

Mr, Wilson and daughter, from South Carolina, were in camp 
a little time on the 21st. They were strangers in the territory. 
When Mr. Wilson returned to Lawrence, he refused to pay the 
four dollars for the team, which he promised on taking it. Chap- 
man, one of the Shawnee council, declared he would have the 
one dollar still retained by Mr. Wilson, and the next morning, as 
Mr. W. was going to Westport in the stage, Chapman asked him 
again for the money. Upon his refusing. Chapman struck him 
on the head with a heavy stick. After the wound was dressed, 
against the advice of others, he continued his journey to West- 
port, and died soon after reaching there. Chapman was examined 
before a justice at Lecompton, and released on bail, $3,500. 
Sam Salters and Haney were his bondsmen, both notorious for 
their villany, and pecuniarily irresponsible. The bail asked in 
the case of Evans, free-state, by an impartial injustice, at Le- 
compton, was S5,000, and in case of young Doy, also free-state, 
taken on charge of horse-stealing, no bail could be admitted. 
Chapman has also been notorious for his threats against the lives 
of several of the citizens of Lawrence. 

All kinds of vegetables have been bountifully supplied to the 
prisoners for many weeks by their friends. In some cases they 
have brought of the first fruits of their fields. Wild grapes and 
apples are growing plenty now. To-day some gentlemen, concert- 
singers, brought their mclodeon and sang to us. It made quite a 
variety in camp life. 

August. — The first Sunday in August we had preaching in 



822 KANSAS. 

camp. Mr. N., and a large number of people, came from Law- 
rence. As many as possible sat under the pavilion, while others 
occupied ths carriages. The officers and soldiers attended, and 
all together we made a goodly number. A melodeon was also 
brought up irom town. Major Hoyt brought a large number of 
beautiful pond lilies, which, at his suggestion, were placed on the 
table, before the preacher. 

On the first day of August, Fain was in Lawrence attempting 
to assess taxes. He was waited upon by a committee, and recom- 
mended to leave. A very intelligent lady, recently from Dela- 
ware, visited us in camp. The camp of the invading horde in 
May was close by her house, and from their brutal conduct she 
suffered much. One of the captains of the gang has since apolo- 
gized to her, saying, " that if his mother in Virginia knew in 
what company he had been, or what he had been doing, she would 
grieve herself to death." She has recently buried a little daugh- 
ter, who, in the first of her illness, was constantly saying, " Ma- 
ma, don't let the Kickapoos shoot me." She thinks fear was the 
occasion of the child's death. These men were cursing and 
swearing about their house nights, and firing their guns in the 
day-time, so that the balls whizzed past her. When asked by her 
" if they had commands to disturb peaceable houses on the Sab- 
bath day," they replied, "they had orders to go where they 
chose, and when they chose ; they were here by President Pierce's 
authority, and acting under the directions of Gov. Shannon." It 
is said in Lecompton to be the plan of the ruffians to kill the pris- 
oners on the day of the trials. Pro-slavery men from the same 
place stated, that, on the 5th, Jones, Clark and Titus, were urging 
the governor to call out the " militia," for further outrages. Word 
had been received from Col. Boone, of Westport, that " now was 
the time to drive out the free-state men." Shannon had sworn 
he would not call out the " militia" again, and the above named 
" law-and-order " men threatened to put him in the rirer, and 
were holding a secret session as to the course to be pursued. On 
the 6th news came of Gov. Shannon's removal. 

Robberies on the Westport road are becoming more frequent. 
Preparatory to the expecteil passage of the Toombs bill, many 



MEN, ETC. - 323 

Missourians and Southerners have been coming into the territory. 
They have not taken claims and built houses upon them, but have 
built forts and stocked them with provisions and munitions of war. 
It all looked like a war of extermination, and preparations for a 
general siege, although many Missourians had said they were 
coming in to vote. The principal head-quarters for the invaders 
were the fort near Osawattomie, one on Washington Creek, at 
Franklin, and the house of Col. Titus. From the latter, morning 
and evening, we heard the report of fire-arms, as his gang were 
firing at a mark. Depredations being committed by the men at 
all these places, it was decided to drive them out. About the 
eighth, a party of free-state men reached the fort on Sugar Creek, 
but Dame Rumor had flown in advance of it, and the fort was 
vacated. The invaders had gone back to their homes in Missouri, 
leaving a load of flour, sugar, hams, etc. The flour and sugar 
were taken, while the bacon was burned with the fort. 

Several of the free-state scouts to the upper country have 
returned. They report the emigrants making roads, and bridging 
streams. Some of the scouts went through to Iowa. The reports 
of the emigrants being intercepted by Missourians were false 
There are over four hundred emigrants on the way. The train 
is more than a mile and a quarter long. Such a body of men 
looked formidable to the spies of the enemy, and they returned to 
report larger numbers. 

The people at Lecompton are exceedingly alarmed for the safety 
of their town. For a week or two they have been so worn out, 
keeping a nightly guard, that they have hired a guard, paying 
each man two dollars a night. At several difi'erent times they 
have been awakened in the night by a courier going in with the 
false report of the free-state men close at hand. Early on the 
morning of the 12th, Titus sent in word that he had seen one 
hundred and seventy-five free-state horsemen approaching the 
town, which at once created a panic. On the night of the 13th, 
we heard firing in the direction of Lawrence, and before sunrise 
the next morning, an express was sent to Maj. Sedgwick. As he 
rode in by our tents, the sentinel hailed him with, " What news? " 
His reply was, " War ! war ! " 



324 KANSAS. 

The free-state men made an attack upon a building in 'Franklin. 
It was the same building that was stormed in the little battle of 
the 4th of June, but, as a block-house, had been considerably 
strengthened since then. It was the first station of the Georgians 
beyond V^ estport, and contained, besides a quantity of small arms, 
a six-pounder brass cannon, which had been brought into the ter- 
ritory in May. They called upon those in the block-house to sur- 
render, before firing at all. After three hours' brisk firing, the 
free-state men, having one man killed and several wounded, drew 
a wagon load of burning hay against the building, when the cry 
for " quarter " was heard. The hay was soon drawn away, and 
the occupants of the fort threw down their arms and fled. The 
guns and cannon were taken by the free-state men. 

The immediate occasion of the attack at Franklin at that time, 
was the sad news of the murder of Maj. D. S. Hoyt, which had 
been received that day. 

For some time the settlers along the Wakarusa, and near Wash- 
ington Creek, had been much harassed by Georgians at that fort. 
Their threats of extermination of the free-state settlers were re- 
peatedly heard, and robberies by them were of frequent occur- 
rence. The settlers had sent messengers to Lawrence, and other 
points, at different times, asking help. Several appeals had been 
made to the troops, but Maj. Sedgwick declined doing anything, 
as he had no authority to act. 

On the eleventh and twelfth, messengers were again sent to him, 
asking him to do something quickly for the protection of the set- 
tlers in that region. He had been informed by Capt. Anderson, 
of the troops, whose company during the summer had recruited 
some of Buford's men, that the camp was a peaceable one, and he 
so stated to the gentlemen from Lawrence. At the request of the 
people of Lawrence, Major Hoyt went out to the camp. He was 
most brutally murdered by the Georgians, his body being riddled 
with bullets. Major Hoyt was an efficient aid to the freC'State 
cause, and was universally esteemed. 

This outrage aroused the free-state men yet more to the neces- 
sity of breaking up the stronghold of these barbarians ; and on the 
afternoon of the 15th, the fort on Washington Creek was burned, 



N, ETC. 325 

The fort was strongly garrisoned and provisioned, and contained 
many articles taken at the siege of Lawrence. Without striking 
a blow the Georgians fled. In the night, Titus' band was out, as 
usual, stealing horses. They had taken three, when they came 
upon the advance guard of the free-state men. Titus, seeing the 
numbers upon which he had fallen, fled, they following but a little 
way, and taking one or two prisoners. 

About sunrise the next morning, the 16th, firing was heard near 
our tents, and one of the cannon balls whizzed past us. Two or 
three horsemen were standing upon a high hill, a half a mile dis- 
tant, apparently watching the troops in camp. A heavy shower 
came up ; the rain poured in torrents. Our breafast had been 
set upon the table, but the frail cloth overhead was like a sieve, 
and each of us caught some of the dishes, and ran into the nearest 
tent. A messenger from Gov. Shannon had come to Major S.'s 
camp. The bugle-call had sounded, and the troops were soon on 
their way to Lecompton. At the moment the troops started, the 
horsemen on the hill disappeared. As we sat in a little tent, a 
la Turque, eating our breakfast, with our plates in our laps, one 
of the persons looking out, said, " Titus' house is on fire. The 
black smoke is rising over the hill." 

A little time passed, and a wagon, with a lady and several 
children, of various shades of color, came to Capt. Sackett for pro- 
tection. It was Mrs. Woodson and her household, who, fearful, 
had fled from their house, one half mile distant from Titus'. 
When, Lieut. Carr reached Lecompton, in accordance with Major 
Sedgwick's orders. Gov. Shannon was nowhere to be found. It 
was only after repeated inquiries, he received the reply, " You 
may find him by the river." Going there, he found the executive 
getting into the scow to go across the river. How one's imagina- 
tion brings up the picture of Cassar crossing the Rubicon ! As he 
returned with Lieut. C, and met Major S. at the point designated, 
he was asked " what were his orders." 

He replied, "I don't think I will have anything done with 

them ; but we will go and see if they have disturbed Major 

Clarke " (the murderer). The four hundred free-state men, going 

over the prairie on their way back to Lawrence, looked too for- 

28 



326 KANSAfe. 

midable to the pusillanimous governor. Major C.'s residence was 
found deserted, the doors wide open, furniture left as just used, 
and everj^thing betraying that some great fear had driven them 
from their homes. The fright and confusion at Lecompton were 
terrible. Any way to get over the river seemed to be the desid- 
eratum ; many even, in their haste, jumped in to swim over. Col. 
Titus and eighteen men were taken prisoners. Among them was 
AVm. Donaldson, who had been my husband's guard on his way from 
Lexington. Titus had several prisoners in his house, — men just 
arrived in the territory. The order of the previous evening had 
been to shoot one of them that morning. 

Some of the type of the Herald of Freedom office had been 
taken from the Kaw, and melted into slugs. These were used to 
load the cannon in the attack upon Titus' stronghold. At the 
first fire, the cannoneer cried, " This is the second edition of the 
Herald of Freedom." 

The prisoners were taken to Lawrence. The next day, Sunday 
the 17th, Maj. Sedgwick, Gov. Shannon and Dr. Rodrigue, of 
Lecompton, want to Lawrence to make a treaty. The two latter 
were ready to make terms anyhow. They trembled like aspen 
leaves for fear, Gov. Shannon's second treaty with the people 
of Lawrence was concluded. The five free-state men arrested after 
the attack at Franklin, under the bogus laws, and the howitzer 
taken from Lawrence in May, were to be exchanged for Titus and 
his band. There were also to be no more arrests under the terri- 
torial laws. 

Gov. Shannon made a speech, in which he stated " he wished 
to set himself right, before the people of Lawrence ; that he de- 
sired peace and harmony for the few days of his continuance in 
office ; " and concluded by saying, " and the few days that I 
remain in office shall be devoted, so help me Heaven, in carry- 
ing out faithfu ly my part of the agreement, and in preserving 
order." 

Capt. Shombre, of the free-state party, was mortally wounded, 
but his expressed sentiment was, " Willingly I yield my life for 
freedom." When they told him of the treaty, like Wolfe, he said, 
" I die happy." He died, much regretted by our people, on the 



" LAW-AND-OKDER " MEN, ETC. 327 

evening of the ITth. The treaty was carried into effect the next 
dciy. Titus and Donaldson begged most piteously for their lives. 
It was humiliating to see men, who had no mercy for any who fell 
into their power, yet beg so humbly for their own lives. They 
said " they would go to their old homes, and would never strike 
another blow for slavery in Kansas." 

But Titus, safely in Lecompton again, has sworn vengeance. 
He was badly wounded in the shoulder and hand, and one of his 
men was killed. Dr. Rodrigue and family passed down to West- 
port on the 18th, on their way to Virginia. Judge Elmore, with 
his family and slaves, left the territory the same day. Gov. Shan- 
non asked for a military escort out of the territory, but was told 
the people would call him a coward in truth. The difference in 
men fighting for their homes and lives, and their oppressors, has 
been clearly marked in this contest. Fear has been the daily and 
nightly portion of the people of Lecompton since their attack upon 
Lawrence. Now, when their gangs of desperadoes have been routed 
in three or four positions, the panic has become general, and the 
leading men of the pro-slavery party remove their families from 
the territory. Women leave their homes to ask protection of mil- 
itary commanders, and pro-slavery towns beg a dragoon guard. 

Gov. Shannon, immediately after the treaty at Lawrence, sent 
for all the troops in the fort. When asked by one of the military 
officers what was the message he sent, he said " he did not know, 
as he had sent his papers, among which was the copy of his let- 
ter to Gen. Smith, by his son, to Westport." Wholly different 
from this was the course of the men and women of Lawrence. 
Calmly they looked upon the devastation, and awaited the houi 
when God would avenge them. People upon claims, close by the 
ruffians' camp, remained at their homes. Faith in the final uphold- 
ing of justice was their shield. 



CHAPTEH XXIII. 

NEW INVASION — RELEASE OF STATE PRISONERS. 

On the 19th of August another most brutal murder was com- 
mitted near Leavenworth. A gentleman named Hops, from Griggs- 
ville, 111., only six days in the territory, was shot and scalped by 
a man named Fugert, who belonged to Atchison's ruffian band 
encamped near Leavenworth. He had made a bet of six dollars 
against a pair of boots, that in less than two hours he would have 
an abolitionist's scalp. He returned to Lawrence, received the 
boots, and exhibited the scalp as a token of his prowess. 

Mr. Hops had hired a house in Leavenworth, intending to locate 
there. He then brought his wife to Lawrence, to remain a few 
days with her sister, Mrs. Nute, wife of the Unitarian clergyman. 
Upon his return, within two miles of Leavenworth, the horrid 
deed was committed. It will be remembered that Fort Leav- 
enworth, where United States troops are stationed, is only three 
miles distant. A German, who spoke freely of the atrocity of the 
deed, was shot Upon the spot. 

A day or two after, a young free-state lady, of Bloomington, 
was carried from her home a mile and a half, by four ruffians, her 
tongue drawn out of her mouth as far as possible, and cords tied 
tightly around it. Her arms were pinioned, and she was otherwise 
so wantonly abused, that for days her life was despaired of. 

On the twenty-first, \Yoodson, declaring the territory in a state 
of insurrection, called out the militia. For several days Woodson, 
.Jones, and others, at Lecompton, had been trying to induce Gov. 
Shannon to resign his office, as he would not call out the militia, 
that Woodson might do it. The ruffians were very loud in their 
praises of him, saying, " he was just the governor they wanted." 



NEW INVASION — RELEASE OE STATE PRISONERS. 329 

The plan was to have a general war of extermination before Gov. 
Geary could arrive. Gov. Shannon, most urgently solicited, at 
length resigned the morning of the day his papers of dismissal 
came from Washington. He again asked for an escort from the 
territory ; but the military officer declined, upon the plea that the 
free-state men had asked for an escort upon the same road, stat> 
ing it was unsafe for them to travel, being infested by pro-slavery 
camps. The ex-governor's angry retort was, " Then, by G — d 
I 'II fight my way through ! " 

On the twenty-second, a party of Georgians made a desceni 
upon the Quaker Mission in the Shawnee Reserve, plundering if 
of horses and other property, while they treated the people mt\ 
barbarity. 

On the twenty-third it was ascertained that Atchison's force, 
numbering four hundred and fifty men, were mustering at Little 
Sante Fe, on the border of Missouri, and about thirty-five miles 
from Lawrence, preparatory to another invasion of the territory. 
At Lawrence there were about two thousand people, men, wo- 
men, and children. There was great scarcity of provisions, and 
not twenty sacks of flour in the whole town. People from the 
Big Stranger Creek, about half way between Lawrence and Leav- 
enworth, had been driven from their claims, and in some instances 
both men and women had been most barbarously treated. It was 
considered unsafe to send teams for provisions past the camps of 
the ruffians. The route to Kansas city was also blockaded. Three 
times an escort had been asked of the highest officer in command, 
out of the fort, and three tiines been refused. 

On the 24th of August, five of the citizens of Lawrence called 
upon Woodson. They found him in the tent of the officers in 
command of the troops. The committee stated that the people of 
Lawrence were out of provisions, that their roads were blockaded 
by armed mobs. They asked whether he intended to allow this 
overwhelming force to murder, burn, and pillage ? He replied, 
" if the people of Lawrence would obey the laws, this thing 
(meaning the invasion) could be settled in five hours." C. W. 
Babcock then said, " Governor, are we to understand that your 
position is this : that if we obey the bogus laws, you will protect 
28* 



330 KANSAS. 

us with the whole force under jour command (meaning the troops), 
and, if not, you will allow us to be murdered ? Is that your posi- 
tion ? " Woodson replied, " The laws must be obeyed, and writs 
executed." The committee concluded that they must depend 
wholly upon the strength of the free-state men, if Lawrence was 
attacked. A-^olunteers were continually arriving, and Lawrence 
again looked warlike. The forts built last winter were repaired, 
and new ones were built. Wheat and hay were carried in so near 
town that they could not be destroyed by the marauders. The 
wheat was ground as a substitute for fine flour, and many cattle 
were driven in near town. A strong guard was again placed 
around the town, while the scouting guard were on duty miles 
away. It was estimated that in twelve hours' time from fifteen 
hundred to two thousand men could be rallied to defend Law- 
rence. 

On the twenty-fifth, Col. Cook, commandant at Fort Kiley, 
arrived at the spot where Capt. Sackett was in charge of the state 
prisoners. He came with a large additional force, which num- 
bered, with the companies called in from difierent parts of the ter- 
ritory, about five hundred troops. They had five pieces of artil- 
lery, and, as they came in over the hills to our quiet little camp, 
they looked quite formidable. The care of the prisoners at once 
devolved upon Col. Cook. He manifested the responsibility he 
felt by putting on an extra guard, with another to stand by to 
listen to conversation when any company was in the tents. Capt. 
Sackett, with thirty-five men, had found, for seven weeks, one 
guard all-sufficient for the protection of the prisoners. Col. Cook, 
with five hundred, must have felt strangely insecure. 

On the twenty-seventh, Mr. Nute, with his widowed sister-in- 
law, and John Wilder, a merchant of Lawrence, with a number 
of teams for provisions, started for Leavenworth. They had been 
advised by the military commanders to attempt this journey. 
When near Leavenworth the whole party were captured by a band 
of ruffians under Capt. Emory. The body of Mr. Hops had been 
buried, by the troops, in Pilot Knob cemetery, and his widow was 
denied the consolation of looking upon his grave. After con- 



NEW INVASION — RELEASE OF STATE PRISONERS. 331 

tinued refusals by the ruffians, she at last succeeded in getting on 
board a boat bound down the Missouri. The others were re- 
tained as prisoners of war, and untold anxiety was felt for 
their safety. 

When this intelligence reached Lawrence, Gr. W. Hutchinson, 
one of the merchants whose wagons had been taken, and Mr. 
Sutherland, the mail -carrier between Lawrence and Leavenworth, 
whose hack and driver were of the same number, were despatched to 
Woodson, also to Col. Cook, to inform them of the facts. Col. 
Cook could not move with his troops to Leavenworth without 
orders from Woodson. He advised these gentlemen to see Wood- 
son. They went to Lecompton, and while in his office were taken 
prisoners by his brutal " militia," he offering no word of protest. 
When Col. Cook heard of this unprecedented outrage, he sent 
again and again to Woodson, demanding their release. His inva- 
riable reply was, " They were taken as spies, and we hold them 
as prisoners of war." 

The same day eighty of the troops went to Lawrence under 
command of Deputy Marshal Newsem, who had rendered himself 
conspicuous by breaking open and searching the trunks of five 
free-state men on the road a few days before. He had a writ of 
replevin for a horse, and a writ of habeas corpus for a man who 
had been detained at Lawrence over night as a spy, but who had 
been released the same morning. He read his writ, signed by 
John P. Wood, Judge of Probate for Douglas County. It was 
directed to " James H. Lane," " the Safety Committee," and the 
people of " Lawrence generally." There was too large a share 
of the ridiculous in this parade of troops on so trivial a matter 
to occasion any show of dignity among the people at Lawrence. 
So the free-state boys laughed with the soldiers, and made sport 
of the simpleton who held the writ. When they left, the boys 
gave three cheers for the troops, and a groan for the official. 

On the thirtieth, Saturday morning, about six o'clock, Fred- 
eric Brown, son of Capt. John Brown, walking on the road near 
his house, not far from Osawattomie, was shot by two scouts of 
the invaders. Two hours later, a force of three hundred men 
under Gen. Beed attacked Osawattomie. Seeing the vast supe- 



332 KANSAS. 

riority of numbers, Capt. Brown retreated with the small free- 
state party under his command, between thirty and forty men, to 
the timber on the river. The battle lasted several hours, until 
the ammunition of the little party gave out. They were then 
ordered to retreat to the river. The Missourians charged upon 
them with horses, and, being wholly undisciplined, came up in 
crowds, so that the sure aim of the little band in the woods 
thinned their ranks. The free-state party lost two men killed in 
the battle ; one man murdered afterwards. As nearly as could 
be estimated, the enemy lost thirty-one killed, and thirty-two 
wounded. Three wagon loads of dead and wounded were taken 
from Osawattomie. After the battle the ruffians burned the town, 
between twenty and thirty houses and stores, and pilfered letters 
from the post-office, etc. They burned, also, the house of " Ottawa 
Jones," who had a fine residence half way between Lawrence and 
Osawattomie. This news being received at Lawrence, Gen. Lane 
with a strong force went out to meet Reid's army. He came 
near them at Ball Creek, and camped for a battle at sunrise on 
the morrow. In the night Beid's army retreated, and Gen. Lane 
drove them to Missouri. 

This portion of the invaders had intended to march nearer Law- 
rence, and attack it upon one side, expecting to be reinforced by 
other parties gathered at Lecompton. 

On the thirty -first, Sunday, p. m., a woman, residing a mile 
distant from the camp, came and reported to Col. Cook that 
some ruffians from Lecompton had gathered at her house, with 
threats to destroy it. He sent four soldiers back with her to 
guard it. After their arrival the party left. Mrs. H. gathered 
together some of her goods, and three small wagon loads were 
brought to her mother's near the camp. Some of the soldiers 
returned with the wagons. Soon after they started with the last 
load, about one hundred and fifty of these Missourians, under the 
lead of Dr. Stringfellow, appeared, and set the house on fire. 
They at first took the gun from the one soldier then there, but 
soon returned it. A few of them surrounded the wagon, and 
" ordered a surrender." But tV.e woman with her escort came 
on to the camp. Soon the dense smoke arose over the hill, and 



NEW INVASION — RELEASE OF STATE PRISONERS. 333 

the Missonrians came up in sight of the camp, and formed in line 
of battle upon a very high point only a quarter of a mile distant. 
It looked like a defiance to the troops. Col. Cook with his offi- 
cers stood by his tent, with a spy-glass, watching them. He was 
evidently surprised at the boldness of the movement. 

Soon the bugle sounded for " boots and saddles," and the sol- 
diers, with loud shouts, and on a full run, started for the horses. 
They thought they were to have the opportunity of driving off 
the Missourians. The colonel, being a Southerner, was annoyed by 
the shouting, and commanded them to be quiet. The Missourians 
soon left the hill, and the soldiers had their regular Sunday drill. 

In a little time two more houses, a short distance away, were 
fired. Before sundown Deputy Marshal Cramer rode up to the 
officers' tent to say, that " the houses were set on fire by free-state 
men." Col. Cook quite indignantly replied, " I saw the smoke of 
the fire, as your men rode from it on to the hill." 

The evening of the next day, five other houses of the settlers 
were burned, and another, around which the mob gathered, was 
saved by the lady of the house showing a paper which Marshal 
Donaldson had given them as a means of protection during the 
spring invasion. Most of the fires were seen at the camp. Some 
of the houses had been vacated, the families having gone to Law- 
rence for safety. The occupants of others were driven from their 
homes at midnight, only escaping with their lives. One woman, 
with a number of young children, whose husband could not 
remain with his family m safety, saved a few things by carrying 
them into the woods. The next day the house, near the camp was 
full of these homeless ones. There were families without their 
natural protectors, because they had been previously driven from 
their homes. There were men, whose families had been removed 
to Lawrence a few days before, while they had remained at their 
houses attempting to get their goods ready to move, when they 
were obliged to fly. No free-state men could now travel between 
Lawrence and Lecompton. The man who carried meat to the 
camp daily was taken prisoner by Stringfellow and his scouting 
party, and retained in "camp over night, notwithstanding he 
showed his contract with the quarter-master. 



334 KANSAS. 

2d. — " Gen. Stricklei .vf the territorial .nilitia, with Cramer, 
called on Col. Cook. Cramer introduced the general. Col. 
Cook seemed to think it militated against his own dignity some- 
what to be '' ranked " by such a stripling, and he replied, " Gen- 
eral?" Cramer said, "Yes," and the usual courtesies passed be- 
tween them. Then Cramer said, " We want you to hold yourself 
in readiness to act when called upon ; for there may a contin- 
gency arise when we shall need you." He also added that " Lane 
was cavort'mg around the territory." 

Mrs. Jenkins, with a military escort, went to Lawrence on the 
second, for provisions for the prisoners. Upon her return, the 
next day, she passed through the most of the "territorial 
militia," about six miles from Lawrence. They were very free 
with their threats of the destruction of Lawrence ; and swore it 
would be accomplished that night. Mrs. Jenkins met several 
free-state men, flying as fast as their horses would carry them, to 
notify Lawrence of the approach of the invaders. One of their 
scouts was sitting quietly in a ravine, eating a watermelon, before 
he noticed this force almost upon him. Quickly mounting his horse, 
he sped towards Lawrence, while four of the invaders pursued 
him, continually firing. Three of the pursuers soon relinquished 
the chase, and he was able to outstrip the speed of the fourth. 

Dr. Stringfellow was in bad repute with the other officers, as 
well as with the men. Many of them left when they found that 
house-burniag was to be the principal work. One or two of the 
captains, on learning the true state of things, immediately left 
Lecompton, returning over the river. 

On the fourth. Marshal Donaldson, and his deputies, Cramer 
and Xewsem, took one hundred and sixty of the troops to Law- 
rence to arrest Lane, Walker, Grover, and others. They came 
back wholly unsuccessful. It seemed to be the impression at 
Lawrence that Lane was not a resident there, and the particular 
location of the house or boarding-place of others inquired for 
was not very clearly defined in the minds of those questioned. 

The same day three men from Leavenworth, who had never 
taken any part in the free-state cause, attempted to go from Leav- 
enworth to Lawrence. They were shot by the ruffians. Two 



NEW INVASION — BELEASE OF PRISONERS. 335 

were killed, and the other was supposed to be dead by the cruel 
men. With his head awfully mangled, by the aid of a Delaware 
Indian, he reached Lawrence. Sicoxie, chief of the Delawares, 
on the 4th, sent to the camp for troops to protect them from the 
continual robberies and depredations of the marauders. Captain 
Sackett, with his company, was sent out. The bodies of the two 
murdered men were buried by them. 

On the same day one hundred and ^fty men were ordered to 
cross the Kansas river, and march upon the north side as far as 
Lecompton. They arrived at this point about dark. Colonel 
Harvey so arranged his men that it would have been impos- 
sible for a much larger force than his to retreat past them. They 
lay all night upon their arms, in one of the most violent storms 
of the season, hungry and supperless. The confusion, the next 
morning, in Lecompton, was unprecedented even there. Many 
of the Missourians, who had come to quell " outrages and dis- 
turbances by the abolitionists " upon the pro-slavery settlers, find- 
ing these acts perpetrated by the " law-and-order " party, were 
disgusted and sick of " the wars." Wishing to go home to Mis- 
souri, they found their retreat cut off. About four o'clock, p. m., 
Gen. Lane had taken possession of the hill overlooking Lecomp- 
ton, and the foundation of the capitol, which was used by the 
enemy as a fortress. He had planted two pieces of artillery, 
before any intimation had been given in Lecompton of the approach 
of " Lane's army." 

Three messengers from Lecompton, to Col. Cook, followed each 
other in quick succession. They reported one thousand men about 
to attack Lecompton. There was soon an unusual stir in the camp. 
The different bugles sounded, and, in just thirty-five minutes after, 
the troops began to move towards Lecompton ; not in a body, but 
at the earliest moment each company was ready. The artillery 
went out, mingling its deafening sound of leavy metal with that 
of iron hoofs, and the clanking of the sabres of their riders. 

Mr. Branscomb and Capt. Cline had been deputed by Gen. 
Lane to go into Lecompton and make a demand of all prisoners 
there. They rode in, bearing a flag of truce, and halted before 
the fort. The following conversation was held : 



336 KANSAS. 

Mr. Branscomb : " AVho lias command of the forces here 
assembled ? " 

Several voices : " General Ptichardson." 

" Can I see General Eichardson?" 

Here General Richardson stepped forward and bowed. 

" General Richardson, are you in command of the forces here 
assembled ? " 

" Well, I don't know as I am." 

An individual here stepped forward, and inquired as follows : 

" General Richardson, do you still retain the command? " 

" No, I suppose not ; I resigned this morning," was the reply. 

This individual then turned to Messrs. Branscomb and Cline, 
and said, "I am in command of the forces here assembled, and 
am ready to receive any proposition." 

Mr. Branscomb : " Who are you, sir? " 

Individual : " I am General Marshall." 

" I am directed by General Lane, commander of the free-state 
forces of Kansas, to demand of you the unconditional and imme- 
diate release of all the free-state prisoners now in Lecompton." 

General Marshall : " We wish to make no compromises with 
General Lane, only that he shall treat our prisoners as kindly and 
courteously as we treat his." 

" Do I understand you to refuse to surrender the prisoners 
demanded? " 

" Such is the understanding." 

Messrs. Branscomb and Cline were about to return to General 
Lane's lines, when General Marshall requested them to wait a few 
minutes. They did so. After a private consultation with some 
others, the general returned, and gave Mr. Branscomb the strange 
intelligence that all the prisoners demanded had been released 
that morning, and that provision had been made to obtain an 
escort of United States dragoons to attend them to Lawrence the 
next day. He then told him that he made a demand on General 
Lane for all the pro-slavery prisoners which had been taken, and 
asked Mr. Branscomb to state the demand. This ended the inter- 
view. 

Colonel Cook reached Lane's lines about the time the messen- 



NEW INVASION — KELEASE OF PRISONERS. 337 

gers to Lecompton got back. Colonel Cook said to General Lane 
and his staff, " Gentlemen, you have made a great mistake in 
coming here to-day. The territorial militia was dismissed this 
morning ; some of them have left, some are leaving now, and the 
rest will leave and go to their homes as soon as they can." Mr. 
Parrott, of Leavenworth city, who was twice sent down the river 
by the ruffians, replied to him as follows : " Colonel Cook, when 
we send a man, or two men, or a dozen men, to speak with the 
territorial authorities, they are arrested and held like felons. 
How, then, are we to know what is going on in Lecompton? 
Why, we have to come here with an army to find out what is 
going on. How else could we know ? " To this. Col. Cook made 
no reply. 

The prisoners came over to the camp at evening, and, under 
military escort, went to Lawrence the next day. Gen. Richard- 
son, of the " Kansas militia," made a visit in Lawrence. He was 
received kindly by General Lane, who escorted him on his way to 
Franklin. He stated " he was on his way to disperse the Missou- 
rians who were coming into the territory." 

A lady from Leavenworth, about this time, having a brother at 
Lawrence, succeeded in getting through to the latter place. She 
walked the entire distance, thirty-five miles, and, by prudence, 
eluded the watchfulness of the enemy. 

For some weeks mob-law had raged at Leavenworth. Hordes 
of the vilest of the Missourians were continually crossing the river 
into the city. On the first of September a municipal election was 
to be held. Capt. Emory, the mail agent, at the head of one 
hundred ruffians, drove from the city all free-state men, declaring 
that " all who did not leave should be killed." 

They attacked the house of William Phillips, a lawyer of 
Leavenworth. Knowing that it was their intention to murder 
him, he told them "he should defend his home;" and, as they 
rushed upon him, he drew his revolver and killed two of them, 
when he was pierced with a dozen bullets, and died instantly. 
The brother of Mr. Phillips had his arm badly shattered. Some 
buildings owned by Mr. P. were burned ; also some others. On 
the Saturday before, and during the night, also, the excitement 
29 



338 KANSAS. 

was intense. ^Ihe groceries were continually frequented, and the 
firing of guns was incessant. All of Sunday night companies of 
thirty or forty men went over the whole city, crying, at the top of 
their voices, for " all who would not take up arms to enforce the 
territorial laws, to leave the territory immediately, or suffer the 
consequences." 

On the first of September, about fifty of the inhabitants were 
obliged, by Capt. Emory and his band, to take passage on the 
Polar Star for St. Louis. The next day eight hundred men, com- 
manded by Capt. Emory, paraded on the levee in front of the 
Emma. Capt. E. ordered the captain of the boat not to leave 
the landing until he gave directions. Then, at the point of the 
bayonet, were men, women, and children, more than one hun- 
dred in number, driven, like cattle, from their homes, to satisfy 
yet further this guilty administration. Men of property were 
obliged thus to leave it to the mercy of the mob ; and, in some 
instances, had not means with them to pay their passage to St. 
Louis. The goods of some of the merchants, together with ten 
thousand dollars' worth in the warehouses, for traders in Lawrence, 
were confiscated by the ruffians. Li many instances they laid aside 
their shabby and soiled garments, and were loud in their praise 
of the excellent fits they found among the clothing designed for 
merchants in Lawrence. No free-state man dared venture in 
the streets of Leavenworth. Many fled into the bushes and 
escaped to the fort. Thirty or more families found safety there. 

When the fourteen prisoners at Lecompton were released, Kev. 
Mr. Nute, and Mr. Wilder, about whom great anxiety had been 
felt, were discovered not to be among them. Col. Cook provided 
Mr. Whitman, Mr. Sutherland, and Mr. Wilder, father of young 
Wilder, an escort, in Sergeant Gary, to go to Leavenworth to 
attempt their release, if they were there. Within a short distance 
of the town, after passing several picket guards, they were taken 
prisoners by Capt. Emory's band. After a little consultation, 
the leaders concluded it was advisable to release Sergeant Cary. 
Pviding post-haste, he reached the fort and stated the facts. Soon 
there was a bustle among the soldiers, and two hundred of them 
marched to Leavenworth. Two hours later, they returned, bringing 



NEW INVASION — RELEASE OF PRISONERS. 339 

in Capt. Emory's band of thirty horsemen, with the three gentle- 
men last taken prisoners in the rear. 

Mr. Nute and Mr. Wilder had been released that morning. 
They had been, for a part of the time, imprisoned in a seven-by- 
nine stone building with grated windows. There was not an 
article of furniture in the room. 

In such a place, without ventilation, with thirteen others, they 
were kept one day, without anything to eat from early morning 
until five o'clock, p. m. Then, some dry bread and coffee were 
brought in. The prisoners said they could not eat without going 
into the fresh air ; and, on being taken out doors, were scarcely 
able to stand from faintness. 

Gov. Geary arrived at the fort on the morning of the ninth. He 
was there when Sergeant Gary reported his seizure by the ruffians. 
He declared that peace should be restored ; that every one who 
was not an actual settler should be driven out ; and that the rights 
of all men should be protected. To some officials under govern- 
ment, with whom he conversed on his way to the territory, he 
stated, as the urgent necessity for this peace, " the impossibility of 
carrying Pennsylvania for Buchanan without it." 

Rev. Mr. Nute and friends reached Lawrence on the evening of 
the 10th. On the 6th September, Col. Cook's camp moved with- 
in a half mile of Lecompton. On the eighth, a number of the 
citizens of Lawrence came up to attend the trial of the state pris- 
oners. No officer of the court could be found ; neither judge, 
jury, clerk or marshal. The next day they appeared in Lecomp- 
ton, and an attempt was made by the counsel for the government, 
C. H. Grover, to postpone the trials until April, alleging that the 
County of Douglas was in a state of insurrection, caused by the 
introduction of large bodies of armed men, whose purpose was to 
resist the laws of the territory ; that jurors and witnesses were 
prevented from attending court thereby. 

Mr. Branscomb and Mr. Parrott, counsel for the prisoners, 
opposed the motion. Mr. B. stated, the prisoners had been 
ready for trial the last term. They were ready now, and, as a 
right, they demanded an immediate trial. Although no sum- 
monses had been issued to jurors or witnesses, there were jurors 



340 KANSAS. 

present who would answer to their names, and there was no 
evidence before the court of such insurrection as the counsel for 
the government had stated, etc. 

Mr. Grover, in reply, said, "he could bring any amount of proof 
of such insurrection. There was the London Times. The Lon- 
don Times said that not only Kansas, but the whole country, was 
in a state of insurrection." 

Judge Lecompte overruled the motion, stating that there was 
not sufficient evidence before the court of such a state of insurrec- 
tion as to deter witnesses and jurors from appearing. 

The docket was then taken up. The first case called was, " The 
Territory of Kansas against Charles Robinson, for usurpation of 
office." The same reasons for continuance of this case were brought 
up by Mr. Grover. Also their witness, P. Hutchinson, who, they 
said, had been summoned, was not present. He is a man unknown 
to the prisoners, their counsel or friends never before having heard 
of him. 

Judge Lecompte then gave his decision. He would continue 
the case on the ground of there being so great an excitement in 
the country as to prevent a fair trial. The prisoner was admitted 
to bail in the sum of five hundred dollars. 

The other cases were then called, — " The United States against 
Charles Eobinson and others," — and continued. The prisoners 
were released on bail of five thousand dollars each. 

Judge Lecompte accepted the bail offered, and seemed anxious 
to get the cases off his hands. 

John Brown, Jr., and H. H. Williams, who had never been 
indicted, were also released on one thousand dollars bail. 

On the afternoon of the 10th September, just four months from 
the day my husband was taken prisoner, and nearly four months 
since the arrest of the others, the tents on " Traitor Avenue " were 
struck. Three wagons were filled with the furniture and valua- 
bles of the prisoners. 

While all were getting ready, a party of us rode into Lecomp- 
ton. It is a little town down in the ravines. The air was hot 
and stifling, and we wondered any one should locate a town there, 
when the breezes on the high grounds are so fresh and invigor- 



NEW INVASION — RELEASE OF PRISONERS. 341 

ating. There were two or three tents still standing, the remnant 
of the invaders' camp. Everything was quiet, and perfectly dull. 
With two carriages of gentlemen, which came from Lawrence in 
the morning to attend the court, the ambulance, and two others 
under -military escort, we left for Lawrence. Within a mile of 
the town, the " Stubs " were waiting to welcome us. Soon after, we 
were met by Gen. Lane and his staff, who led the way into Massa- 
chusetts-street, where crowds of people had gathered to greet their 
long-absent townsmen. 

My husband made them a short speech. In the evening the 
people had a jubilee of rejoicing, and short speeches from several 
of the prisoners. The arrival of Mr. Nute and fellow-prisoners, 
the same evening, added not a little to the enthusiasm of the 
hour. 

On the fourteenth of September a new invasion was made against 
Lawrence. Gov. Geary was notified of the fact, and he com- 
manded their dispersion. They burned several houses, and the 
saw-mill in Franklin, and drove off two hundred head of horses 
and cattle. 

A part of the same force passed up to Lecompton on the six- 
teenth, and killed David Buffum, a reliable free-state man, the same 
who brought the little howitzer into Lawrence, during the flill 
invasion, by singular skill and bravery. 

Rumors havino; come into Lawrence of the invaders committino; 
depredations on the northern part of the territory, by the advice 
of Gov. Geary's friend, a few men were sent to drive them out. 
On their way back to Lawrence, they were taken prisoners and 
carried to Lecompton, where they have since been retained. The 
horses of free-state men are being taken by the other party, under 
forms of law, and the system of robbery and outrage has received 
no check. 

Two gentlemen, new-comers in the territory, on the twenty- 
second were taken from the stage, as they were passing from Law- 
rence to Kansas city, and one is still missing. 

The promised peace has not yet come to Kansas. Hopefully 
the settlers have waited for it; but their hope in the present 
administration has turned to despair. With many fears, and 

2m 



842 KANSAS. 

many sufferings before them in tlie cold months coming, they still 
look forward to a day of deliverance when the genial breath 
of spring shall have melted winter's icy bands, and the new reign 
of peace and righteous laws takes the place of oppression and 
tyranny. 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

AN APPEAL TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 

Two years have passed since the territory of Kansas was thrown 
open to settlement. Under the Squatter Sovereignty bill, expect- 
ing to be protected, settlers came from the far East and North, as 
well as from the more Southern and Western States. They had a 
right to look for such protection to the President of these United 
States in the very provisions of that bill. How have they been 
protected '? Let his infamous appointees in the territory — the 
vile tools of tyranny — answer to an enlightened public sentiment. 
Let freemen, imprisoned for months on the prairie, under the burn- 
ing sun, and amid drenching rains, for no crime but the innate 
love of freedom, tell the tale. Let the booming cannon battering 
down hotels, and printing-presses thrown into the Kansas river, 
tell afar the bloody despotism that rules our land. Let the bris- 
tling bayonets of the United States army tell how the free settlers 
have been outraged and plundered, while ruffian bands have been 
protected by it, under Gov. Shannon's orders. Let the loud moan 
of lone men, murdered by these hordes of the administration, and 
the bitter wail of desolate homes, borne on every gale, tell to the 
world the blackness of the demon Slavery, and the unmitigated 
villany of those who have aided, abetted, and connived at all 
these atrocities — those who have brought disgrace upon our coun- 
try's name, and clothed their own in darkness so dense, that no 
after acts of a lifetime can erase the stains of blood and guilt. 
While the ghost-like forms of their murdered victims flit around 
their nightly pillows, and the cry, " 0, God ! I am murdered ' " 
comes to them on every morning breeze, and the low plaint of the 
insane widow, as she starts and listens at every footstep, saying, 



344 KANSAS. 

"Is it my husband?" as he comes neyer more, " 0, my soul, 
come not thou into their secrets ! " 

The appointees of the President in this territory, both judicial 
and executive, have, with two or three exceptions, in every possi- 
ble way aided these invasions of the territory, the mobs, the mur- 
ders, the downfall of freedom by fire and sword. When Gov. 
Reeder acted out his manliness, and refused to be a tool to carry 
out the nefarious plans of the administration, he was dismissed on 
a charge so false that even the vile minions of slavery denounced 
the President. 

This dismissal did not come, however, until the President had 
urged Gov. Reeder to resign, promising him an appointment upon 
a foreign mission. Then a new governor was appointed. He de- 
clined the appointment. Then another was found mean enough 
to accept the appointment, after a dismissal of the former govern- 
or under such circumstances, and the refusal to accept of the sec- 
ond appointee. And well has he fulfilled the promise of mean- 
ness, heartlessness, and perfect servility to the great Moloch of 
Slavery, an acceptance, at such a time, warranted us to expect. 
He made a league with our enemies before he set foot in the ter- 
ritory. He brought them against Lawrence, in December, 1855, 
by a tissue of lies. He made a treaty with his own people, when 
he found his fiat was not suf&cient to annihilate them. When he 
feared his own life was in danger, he gave the people of Lawrence 
a right to protect themselves, and him. In May a new horde of 
blood was brought against Lawrence. The protection of this in- 
strument of the slave power was implored again and again ; but 
the last conference was closed by his demand of the guns being 
given up, because one hundred South Carolinians, just arrived in 
the territory, would not be satisfied without, and the hotel must bo 
destroyed for the same laudable reason. Magnanimous governor ! 
What laurels will crown his brow, as his name goes down to pos- 
terity ; and how the closing remark of that conference will add 
lustre to them ! 

This brave champion for slavery has dared to tell lone women 
on the Kansas prairies he would " cut their d — d hearts out ! " 
He has given passes to a few men travelling in the territory, show- 



AN APPEAL TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 345 

ing his connection with the murders and outrages daily committed. 
He has at all times, when outrages have been committed by his 
accomplices, and he feared the just wrath of the people, protected 
them by United States troops. He has, when fearing an attack 
upon Leeompton, been seen entering the scow to cross the river 
to save himself, and, under the protection of Major Sedgwick, has 
made his second visit to the people of Lawrence, and made 
another treaty with them. He has asked for an escort to get him 
out of the country. But the President, at last, seeing the Dem- 
ocratic party in danger, has numbered the days of the govern 
or. Let " de mortaibus nisi bonum " be our motto. Judge Le 
compte was particularly qualified to be the chief justice in Kansas^ 
by his want of legal knowledge, and lack of intellectual ability. 
His particular forte in packing juries, and instructing grand jurors 
to indict freedom-loving citizens for high treason, as well as hotels 
and printing-presses as nuisances, has probably fulfilled the Presi- 
dent's expectations in regard to him, as well as made him a worthy 
fellow-worker with the decapitated governor. Another of the judges 
declared that he would leave the bench to assist in arresting per- 
sons who said they would pay no regard to the territorial laws. 
Such has been the partisan character of all these appointees. 
When Congress was memorialized as to these grievances of the 
people, and a plain statement was laid before the President of the 
invasion of March thirtieth, he signified his alliance with the ruffi- 
ans by removing Gov. Reeder. During the siege of Lawrence, in 
which Gov. Shannon had for his counsellors men from Westport 
and Independence, when Clark, the Indian agent, in a most wan- 
ton manner, murdered an unarmed man, Judges Lecompte, Elmore, 
Johnson, Cato, and Burrill, being of the same party, as they left 
Leeompton, on their way to head-quarters on the Wakarusa, the 
President was silent. He ofi'ered no protection to the people of 
Lawrence. He has done nothing since towards the removal of the 
murderer. When, however, a new invasion being in preparation, 
word was sent to him, he suddenly found that some things in Kan- 
sas required his interposition. His special message was crowded 
upon the House, and his proclamation soon followed. Did he 
speak of the murder by his official ? Not one word. Did he 



m 



346 KANSAS. 



reprove the govi3rnor — the very man after his own heart in guilty 
weakness — for his unparalleled course of oppression ? 0, no ! 
He told the peaceable settlers in Kansas, who had asked his pro- 
tection, that he would " enforce the laws " of the Legislature, 
elected by Missourians, " with the army and navy of the United 
States." He, moreover, intimated very strongly that treason had 
been or would be committed. 

Again and again irruptions were made into the territory. The 
ballot-boxes were taken by force ; and on the seventeenth of Jan- 
uary another murder, so terrible in all its barbarities that the 
mind shudders at the thought, was committed in the territory. 
The people, oppressed by cold unprecedented, and many of them 
suffering for the actual wants of life, were harassed hourly by 
fears of the assassin. Yet the President was dumb. Spring 
came, and earth and sky rejoiced with mutual gladness in the 
balmy airs and up-springing verdure. Business revived, and the 
people hoped in some measure to retrieve their losses of the last 
fall's invasion ; but the demon Slavery was yet insatiate. Armed 
bands from Missouri, South Carolina, and Alabama, poured into 
the territory. They openly proclaimed they came to " fight and 
to vote, and would return to their homes." These things were 
known to the country. Was the President one of those who, 
" having eyes, see not, and ears, hear not " ? They came, and 
were enrolled as the militia of the territory — men so degraded, 
so debauched, that one of their officers in camp said " they 
never had had so good a home as that before." They were 
the proper instruments to do the work desired by the administra- 
tion — sacking towns, robbing and murdering innocent people; 
and this they did under the orders of the United States Marshal. 
The way, they thought, was open for a general extermination of 
free-state people, because, by the orders of Judge Lecompte, a 
few of the leaders had been thrown into prison, and others 
driven off. 

Lawrence was destroyed. Osawattomie was sacked. Guer- 
illa bands blockaded the highways, and murdered peaceable citi- 
zens. Did the President do anything? When by a word he 
could have given Kansas the long-sought-for peace, he said it not. 



AN APPEAL TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 347 

The White House rose between him and the suffering dwellers in 
Kansas. Pie had been struck with official blindness, and saw not 
how, Avhen he had been their willing agent, their pliant tool the 
southern party would cast him off as a worthless thing. He had 
gone too low; he had crouched too humbly; he could not be 
trusted. So they gave him a complimentary vote when he came 
before that Cincinnati Convention, in the words of a Massachusetts 
senator, "with the lurid light of the sacked and burning dwellings 
of Kansas flashing on his brazen brow, and with the blood of the 
people of Kansas dripping from his hands." When our people 
attempted to right their wrongs by assembling to memorialize 
Congress, an armed body of United States troops rushed in upon 
them, and commanded their dispersion. This act, on the Fourth 
of July, 1856, makes the third act of this kind chronicled in 
history. While such things are being sanctioned in Kansas, the 
Missouri river is infested by pirates, and closed to peaceable citi- 
zens. The President still looks on unmoved, and permits outrages 
which long ago would have been made the pretext for a bloody 
war, had one tenth part of the wrongs been committed by a 
foreign power. 

We have fallen upon the evil times, in our country's history, 
when it is treason to think, to speak a word against the evil of 
slavery, or in favor of free labor. In Kansas, prisons or instant 
death by barbarians are the reward ; and in the Senate, wielders 
of bludgeons are honored by the state which has sent ruffians to 
desolate Kansas. But in this reign of misrule the President and 
his advisers have failed to note the true effect of such oppression. 
The fires of liberty have been rekindled in the hearts of our 
people, and burn in yet brighter flame under midnight skies 
illumined by their own burning dwellings. The sight of lawless, 
ruthless invaders, acting under the United States government, 
has filled them with that " deep, dark, sullen, teeth-clenched 
silence, bespeaking their hatred of tyranny, which armed a Wil- 
liam Tell and Charlotte Corday." The best, the boldest utterance 
of man's spirit for freedom will not be withheld. The adminis- 
tration, with the most insane malignity, has prepared the way for 
a - vi\ war, and the extermination of freemen in Kansas. With 



348 KANSAS. 

untiriEg malice, it has endeavored to effect this by the aid of a 
corrupt judiciary, packed juries, and reckless officials. In viola- 
tion of the Constitution of the United States, no regard was paid 
to the sacred rights of freemen in their persons and property. 
Against the known sentiment and conviction of half the nation 
these deeds of infamy have been plotted, and have been diligently 
carried on. That a people are down-trodden is not evidence that 
they are subdued. The crushed energies are gathering strength ; 
and, like a strong man resting from the heats and toils of the 
day, the people of Kansas will arise to do battle for liberty ; and, 
when their mighty shouts for freedom shall ascend over her hills 
and prairies, slavery will shrink back abashed. Life, without 
liberty, is valueless, and there are times which demand the noble 
sacrifice of life. The people of Kansas are in the midst of such 
times ; and amid discomfiture and defeat men will be found who 
for the right will stand with sterner purpose and bolder front. 
Kansas will never be surrendered to the slave power. God has 
willed it ! Lawrence, the city where the plunderer feasted at the 
hospitable table, and, Judas-like, went out to betray it, will come 
forth from its early burial clothed with yet more exceeding 
beauty. Out of its charred and blood-stained ruins, where the 
flag of rapine floated, will spring the high walls and strong para- 
pets of freedom. The sad tragedies in Kansas will be avenged, 
when freedom of speech, of the press, and of the person, are 
made sure by the downfall of those now in power, and when the 
song of the reaper is heard again over our prairies, and, instead 
of the clashing of arms, we see the gleam of the ploughshare in 
her peaceful valleys. Men of the North, shall the brave hearts 
in Kansas struggle alone ? 



APPENDIX. 



MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR ROBINSON, OF KANSAS, TO THE NEW 
LEGISLATURE. 

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives : 

Having been cliosen by the people to occupy the executive chair of the 
new State of Kansas, it becomes my duty, under the constitution, to com- 
municate to the General Assembly the condition of the affairs of the state, 
and recommend such measures as I shall deem expedient for their action. 
While gratitude to the people for the confidence their suffrages evinced, and 
for the honor bestowed, will induce me to enlist all my energies in their 
service, inexperience in public life, and a lack of ability and information, 
will cause me to speak with diffidence upon the various subjects to which 
your attention will be invited. 

The organization of a new government is always attended with more or 
less difficulty, and should, under the most favorable circumstances, enlist 
the learning, judgment and prudence, of the wisest men in all its depart- 
ments ; the most skilful workmanship is requisite, that each part of the 
complicated machinery may be adapted to its fellow, and that a harmoni- 
ous whole, without jar or blemish, may be the result. In Kansas, espe- 
cially, is this a most delicate and difficult task. Our citizens are from 
every state in the Union, and from nearly every country on the globe, and 
their institutions, religion, education, habits and tastes, are as various as 
their origin. Also in our midst are several independent nations, and on 
our borders, both west ai;d east, are outside invaders. 

In our mutual endeavors to set in motion a state government, we have a 
common chart for our guide, the Constitution. The duties of the General 
Assembly, as designated by this instrument, are : 

To provide for the Encouragement of Education and Religion ; 
The Registration of Electors ; 
To provide for the Returns of Elections ; 
80 



350 KANSAS. 

For the Election of Officers ; 

For the Filling of Vacancies ; 

For the Number of Senators and Representatives ; 

For Apportionment ; 

Against Special Legislation ; 

For Publication of Laws ; 

For Taking the Census ; 

For Salaries of Officers ; 

For Surveyor General, State Geologist, and Superintendent of Common 
Schools ; 

For Judicial Districts and Jurisdiction of Courts ; 

For Publication of Decisions of Supreme Court ; 

For Duties of Clerk and Reporter of Supreme Court ; 

For School Fund, University, Normal Schools, etc. ; 

For State Asylums for Blind, Deaf, Dumb, Insane, Idiots, and the Poor ; 

For Houses of Refuge for Juvenile Offenders ; 

For State General Hospital ; 

For Seat of Government and State House ; 

For INlilitia ; 

For Finance and Taxation ; 

For Counties, County, City and Town Officers ; 

For Commissioners to arrange Rules of Practice in the Courts of Record ; 

For Bureau of Statistics and Encouragement of Agriculture ; 

To secure the separate Property and Custody of Children to Wife ; 

For Election of two United States Senators ; 

For Banks and Banking ; 

For Redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness ; and for Enforcement of 
the Sixth Section of the Bill of Rights. 

Also, the people, by a separate and direct vote, have instructed the 
Assembly to provide for the exclusion of free negroes. 

Education of the people, common school education, is the palladium of 
our liberties. Without this, free institutions cannot exist ; with it, tyranny 
and oppression must disappear. A thorough and efficient system of educa- 
tion is a better and cheaper corrective and preventive of poverty, degrada- 
tion and crime, than the poor-house, house of refuge, or penitentiary. This 
subject will not foil to receive its full share of your attention. That the 
common school may be put on a permanent basis, the proceeds of the school 
lands, or other educational income, should be carefully husbanded, till a 
fund shall accumulate amply sufficient to give to every child in the state a 
liberal common sshool education. 

Second only to the common school in importance are the University and 
Normal Schools. For these, also, the constitution suggests that you provide 
at an early day. 



APPENDIX. 351 

Of the public charitable institutions named in the constitution, a General 
State Hospital calls most urgently for consideration. In a new country, 
manj'- must necessarily suffer from sickness and poverty, and, in the present 
unsettled condition of the people, it is eminently proper that the state should 
provide for their relief. 

The subject of finances and taxation is one of primary importance in every 
state, and particularly in a new one. Onerous taxes and large indebtedness 
should be guarded against as far as possible, and economy without niggard- 
ly parsimony should be the rule of action. For the present state of the 
finances you are referred to the report of the executive committee. 

Exposed as our citizens are to the scalping-knife of the savage on the 
west, and to the revolver and hatchet of the assassin on the east, a thorough 
and early organization of the militia is urgently called for. By the consti- 
tution, this duty devolves upon the General Assembly. Measures should at 
once be taken to encourage the organization of volunteer companies, and to 
procure the arms to which the state is entitled. 

The disposition of the public lands is a matter for serious consideration. 
Under existing laws, they belong to the general government, and are used 
as a source of revenue. The policy of such a use is at least questionable. 
The amount received into the treasury from the sale of public lands is 
inconsiderable, amounting in the aggregate to about two millions of dollars 
annually. 

This sum, distributed among the states where the lands are situated, 
would aid essentially the cause of education, or the establishment of char- 
itable institutions, but it is entirely unnecessary in the already overflowing 
treasury of the general government. Even as a matter of revenue, the 
treasury gains nothing by selling the public domain to the people, for the 
principal revenue is derived from the products of the soil, and these will be 
increased as the number of land-holders increases, and in proportion to the 
capital invested in its cultivation. The one dollar and twenty-five cents per 
acre, laid out on the land, will produce far more revenue to the government in 
a few years, than if deposited in the treasury. The true policy for any gov- 
ernment is to give, to every citizen who will cultivate it, a farm without 
price, and secure it to him for a permanent homestead. Especially should 
the citizen who deprives himself of the blessings of home and civilization for 
a time, to reclaim the wilderness that it may be added to the common- 
wealth, be allowed his laud gratis. 

But if the land must be sold, and the proceeds applied to defray expenses 
of government, the state should be the recipient, and not the general gov- 
ernment. Every new state must incur extraordinary expenses in setting 
its government in motion. It has its public edifices, State-house, Asylums, 
Penitentiary, Universities, School-houses, Pwailroads, etc., to construct, and 
limited means at command. Should Congress, in its wisdom, donate, as we 
have reason to b-elieve it will, all the public lands of Kansas to the state, it 



352 KANSAS. 

will then be the duty of the assembly to dispose of them. In such an event, 
by donating one hundred and sixty acres as a homestead to each resident of 
five years, and allowing no one person to purchase of the state more tha^ 
one hundred and sixty acres additional, the state would become rapidly 
settled, and at the same time secure a fund for educational and other pur- 
poses equal to its necessities. 

The indiscriminate sale of intoxicating drinks in a state like Kansas, 
where are numerous Indian tribes, is productive of much mischief. Some 
tribes within our borders are still uncivilized, and indulge their appetites 
without restraint, while many of the other tribes are equally unfortunate. 
It is a duty we owe to the Indian, that we not only cultivate the most friendly 
intercourse, but that we protect him from injury ;■ and this subject should 
not be overlooked by the General Assembly. 

The use of intoxicating drinks, as a beverage, impairs the health, morals, 
good order and prosperity, of any community, and the traffic in them is an 
unmitigated evil, and it is for the Legislature in its wisdom to adopt such 
measui^es as shall best secure the public welfare. 

It will be remembered that a» skeleton of a government still exists in our 
midst, under the territorial form, and although this was but the foreshadow- 
ing of a new and better covenant, collision with it should be carefully 
guarded against. A territorial government is transient in its nature, only 
waiting the action of the people to form a government of their own. This 
action has been taken by the people of Kansas, and it only remains for the 
General Government to suspend its territorial appropriations, recall its offi- 
cers, and admit Kansas into the Union as a sovereign state. 

The reasons why the territorial government should be suspended and 
Kansas admitted into the Union as a state, are various. In the first place, 
it is not a government of the people. The executive and judicial officers are 
imposed upon the people by a distant power, and the officers thus imposed 
are foreign to our soil, and are accountable, not to the people, but to an 
executive two thousand miles distant. American citizens have for a long 
time been accustomed to govern themselves, and to have a voice in the choice 
of their officers ; but, in the territorial government, they not only have no 
voice in choosing some of their officers, but are deprived of a vote for the 
officer who appoints them. 

Again : governments are instituted for the good and protection of the 
governed ; but the territorial government of Kansas has been, and still is, 
an instrument of oppression and tyranny unequalled in the history of our 
republic. The only officers that attempted to administer the laws impar- 
tially have been removed, and persons substituted who have aided in our 
subjugation. Such has been the conduct of the officers and the people of a 
neighboi-ing state, either intentionally or otherwise, that Kansas, to-day, is 
without a single law enacted by the people of the territory. Not a man in 
the country will attempt to deny that every election had under the territo- 



APPENDIX. 853 

vial government was carried by armed invaders from an adjoining state, and 
for the purpose of enacting laws in opposition to the known wishes of the 
people. 

The territorial government should be withdrawn, because it is inopera- 
tive. The officers of the law permit all manner of outrages and crime to be 
perpetrated by the invaders and their friends with impunity, while the citi- 
zens proper are naturally law-abiding and order loving, disposed rather to 
sufier than do wrong. Several of the most aggravated murders on record 
have been committed, but as long as the murders are on the side of the 
oppressors, no notice is taken of them. Not one of the whole number has 
been brought to justice, and not one will be, by the territorial officers. While 
the marauders are thus in open violation of all law, nine tenths of the peo- 
ple scorn to recognize as law the enactments of a foreign body of men, and 
would sooner lose their right arms than bring an action in one of their mis- 
named courts. Americans can suffer death, but not dishonor ; and sooner 
than the people will consent to recognize the edicts of lawless invaders as 
laws, their blood will mingle with the waters of the Kansas, and this Union 
be rolled together in civil strife. 

Not only is this territorial government the instrument of oppression and 
subjugation of the people, but under it there is no hope of relief. The 
organic act permits the Legislature to prescribe the qualification of voters, 
and the so-called Legislature has pi'ovided that no man shall vote in auy 
election who will not bow the knee to the dark image of slavery, and 
appointed officers for the term of four years to see that this provision is 
cax-ried out. Thus nine tenths of the citizens are disfranchised and debarred 
from acting under the territorial government if they would. 

Even if allowed to vote, the chief executive of the country says he has 
no power to protect the ballot-box from invaders, and if the people organize 
to protect themselves, his appointees intimate that they must be disarmed 
and put down ; hence, whether allowed to vote or not, there is no opportu- 
nity for the people of the territory to rule under the present territorial gov- 
ernment. Indeed, the laws are so made and construed that the citizens of a 
neighboring state are legal voters in Kansas, and of course no United States 
force can be brought against them. They are by law entitled to invade us 
and control our elections. 

According to the organic act the people have a right to elect a Legislature, 
and that Legislature has a right to make laws, establish courts, and do every- 
thing but choose their executive and supreme judicial officers. If they have 
the right to do the one, they undoubtedly should have the right to do the 
other. The principle of squatter sovereignty, upon which this act is said to 
be based, knows no distinction between the power to legislate and the power 
to adjudicate or execute. If the right of one department of government is 
inherent in the people, so is the other. On this subject there is high author- 
ity. Gen Cass, in the Senate, said : " The government of the United 
30* 



354 KANSAS. 

States is one of limited authority, Tested with no powers not expressly 
granted or not necessary to the proper execution of such as are." 

"There is no provision in the constitution gi-anting any powers of legis- 
lation over the ' territory or other property of the United States,' except 
such as relates to its regulation and disposition. Political jurisdiction is 
entirely withheld, nor is there any just implication which can supply this 
defect of original authority." 

Again he says, " I shall vote for the entire interdiction of all federal ac- 
tion over this general question, under any circumstances that may occur." 
But the executive and judiciary of Kansas are the creatures of the federal 
government, and under its control, and the governor has a negative 
legislative power equal to two thirds of both branches of the Legislature, 
leaving to the people of the territory only one third of one of the three de- 
partments of government, and to the general government all of two depart- 
ments, and two thirds of the other. 

Also, he says, " Leave the people who will be affected by this question 
(slavery), to adjust it upon their own responsibility and in their own man- 
ner, and we shall render another tribute to the original principles of our 
government, and furnish another guaranty for its permanency and pros- 
perity." But how can this or any other question be adjusted by the people, 
while ruled by a foreign executive and judiciary ? 

Mr. Douglas says, " I have always held that the people have a right to 
settle these questions as they choose, not only when they come into the 
Union as a state, but that they should be permitted to do so while a terri- 
tory." If the people have this right, then the federal government has no 
right to interfere with it, and the people of Kansas have a right to demand 
that the present territorial government of Kansas be withdrawn, and that 
they be allowed to choose all their officers. 

Mr. Henn, of Iowa, in Congress, said, " I would that Congress would rec- 
ognize the doctrine of * squatter sovereignty' in its length and breadth; 
that the citizen, wherever he may settle, if on American soil, shall have all 
the rights and privileges of citizenship, and be consulted by executives as 
well as by representatives. This would be right. This would be simple jus- 
tice. It is a doctrine that was broadly asserted, and with firmness main- 
tained, by the fathers of our republic." 

In the organic act of the territory, section 14, is the following: "It 
being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into 
any territory or state, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people 
thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in 
their own way, subject only to the constitution of the United States." 

But how can this " intent " be carried out with an executive and judi- 
ciary, and two thirds of the legislative power, in opposition to the will of 
the people, and with an overwhelming invasion at every election by permis- 
sion of these of^.cers ? 



APPENDIX. 355 

In the President's annual message to Congress, for the current year, he 
sa/s, " In the counsels of Congress there was manifested extreme antagonism 
of Dpinion and action between some representatives who sought, by the 
abusive and unconstitutional employment of the legislative powers of the 
government, to interfere in the condition of inchoate states, and to impose 
their own social theories upon the latter ; and other representatives, who 
repelled the interposition of the general government in this respect, and 
maintained the self-constituted rights of the states. In truth, the thing 
attempted was in form alone the action of the general government, while 
in reality it was the endeavor, by abuse of legislative power, to force the 
ideas of internal policy, entertained by particular states, upon allied inde- 
pendent states. Once more the constitution- and the Union triumphed sig- 
nally. The new territories were organized without restrictions on the dis- 
puted point, and were thus left to judge in that particular for themselves." 

If it would have been an " abuse of legislative power" for Congress to 
" force the ideas of internal policy entertained by particular states " upon 
Kansas, by what reasoning does he justify the executive in the exercise 
of that power ? That the officials of his appointment are to-day endeavor- 
ing to do this very thing, against the sentiment of a large majority of the 
people, cannot admit of a doubt. 

Again he says, " The measure of its repeal (Missouri Compromise) was 
the final consummation and complete recognition of the principle, that no 
portion of the United States shall undertake, through assumption of the 
powers of the general government, to dictate the social institutions of any 
other portion." 

The people of Kansas have reason to feel that the " complete recogni- 
tion" of the principle, unless carried into practice, is of no avail to them, 
and that the recognition of this principle by Congress, while the opposite is 
acted upon by the executive, would be simple mockery. 

Once more; *'If the friends of the constitution are to have another 
struggle, its enemies could not present a more acceptable issue than that 
of a state, whose constitution clearly embraces a republican form of govern- 
ment, being excluded from the Union because its domestic institutions may 
not in all respects comport with the ideas of what is wise and expedient en- 
tertained in some other state." " If a new state, formed from the territory 
of the United States, be absolutely excluded from admission therein, that 
fact, of itself, constitutes the disruption of union between it and the other 
states. But the process of dissolution could not stop there. Would not 
a sectional decision, producing such a result by a majority of votes, either 
northern or southern, of necessity drive out the oppressed and aggrieved 
minority, and place in presence of each other two irreconcilably hostile 
confederations ? ' ' 

Thus it will be eieen, by the highest democratic authority in the coun- 
try, that the people f Kansas have a right to demand the removal of the 



356 KANSAS. 

preseLt oppressive territorial government, and also that they be admitted 
into the Union as an equal and independent state. 

Knowing that one great party in Congress, with the President at its head, 
was in principle committed to our defence, and believing that many from 
the other parties would, if not from principle, as an act of justice, be in- 
duced to look upon us with favor, we had a right to anticipate a speedy 
termination of our present thraldom. However, owing to an apparent mis- 
understanding of the constitutional movements in Kansas, the President 
intimates in a special message that Congress must interfere and make the 
people undo what, with great care and expense, they have so well done. 
This message, as it refers exclusively to Kansas, should receive some atten- 
tion from the General Assembly. Kansas men, " squatter sovereignty " 
men, cannot fail to be somewhat surprised at its purport. It is somewhat 
belligerent in its tone, threatening to bring against the people of Kansas 
the army and navy of the United States ; and, should this force be inade- 
quate to the task, the militia of the several states are to be brought into 
requisition to compel the people to submit to what they do not recognize as 
laws, and to laws, according to his own showing, the people of Missouri, 
with the aid of the executive which he appointed, have enacted. 

But it is to be lioped that, by the time his forces are raised and marched 
into the territory, he will find, like His Excellency Governor Shannon, that 
the people are not so deserving of annihilation as he had supposed. 

The Pi'esident gives the details of the invasion of Kansas and the Govern- 
or's connection therewith, and does not deny that the so-called territorial 
Legislature was elected by the people of Missouri; but because the Gov- 
ernor, his appointee, chose to grant certificates of election to a majority of 
persons elected by the people of a neighboring state, therefore their laws 
are binding upon the people. To strengthen his argument, he might have 
accused the Governor of still further complicity with the invaders, and 
have said that although this territory is hundreds of miles in extent, and 
the people were politically unorganized, yet he gave them but four days in 
which to contest the election, and would not extend the time one hour; for 
it is said that a protest arrived at one o'clock on the morning of the fifth 
day, which, had it been regarded, would have changed five seats in the 
Legislature; but it was too late by one hour, and could not be received. 

The argument of the President may be good against any objection to the 
acts of the Legislature on his part, as, in the first place, he refused to protect 
the ballot-box from fraud, and, in the second place, so far as lay in his 
power, his appointee legalized it ; but is it good against the people ? 

The organic act provides for a Legislature to be elected from, and by, the 
voters; and a voter is to be " an actual resident of said territory ;" and if 
any other set of men, either with or without the sanction of the executive, 
claim to be the Legislature, art the people bound to regard them as such ? 



APPENDIX. 357 

Also, this act says, " It is the true intent and meaning of this act to leave 
the people of the territory perfectly free to form and regulate their domes- 
tic institutions in their own way, subject only to the constitution of the 
United States," not subject to the people of Missouri, or the executive, or 
both of them together. How can the true intent of this law be carried out by 
a Legislature elected as was that on the thirtieth of March last ? Yet that 
Legislature, elected from and by the people of a neighboring state, have 
assumed to pass laws for the people of Kansas, and also to " legislate slavery 
into the territory," which Congress itself professed not to have the right to 
do ; and these are the so-called laws that the President says must be en- 
forced, even though it require all the army and navy of the United States 
and the militia of the several states. Undoubtedly one half of this force 
will be all-sufficient to enable him to enforce any process, or to chop, shoot 
and hang all the inhabitants. But all the armies and navies in the world 
could not make the people believe he had a right to do it, or that the enact- 
ments of that border Legislature were binding upon the people of Kansas. 
If squatter sovereignty means simply that Congress has no right to inter- 
fere with the affairs of a territory, but that the executive and the people 
of another state have, then most certainly that doctrine will be very unpop- 
ular in Kansas. 

Other reasons might be given to show that no legal Legislature have ever 
passed laws in Kansas besides the above, as the removal of the sittings 
from Pawnee to the Shawnee Mission, which is on the Shawnee Reserve, as 
it is understood, and can, consequently, *' constitute no part of the terri- 
tory of Kansas." The organic act provides that " the persons having the 
highest number of legal votes in each district for members of the Council 
(or House of Representatives) shall be declared by the Govei-nor to be duly 
elected." From this decision there is no appeal, according to the act ; yet 
nine persons, declared to be duly elected by the Governor, were ejected by 
the Legislature, and others admitted. But one person, it is believed, was 
duly elected by the legal voters of the territory, and he resigned his seat, 
regarding ihe whole body illegal. His seat was filled without an election, 
and by the Legislature ; hence, probably, not one of the members of the 
body could have received the suffrages of the legal voters in the districts 
they pretended to represent. 

It is the enactments of such a body of men that the army, navy and 
militia of the country are to enforce upon the people, who were told they 
should " be free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their 
own way ; " a body of men elected by a neighboring state ; who did not sit 
at the seat of government as required; who did sit at the Shawnee Mission, 
understood to form no part of the territory of Kansas ; v/ho turned out 
nine of its legally elected members and received in their stead nine persons 
not legally elected; who filled a vacancy by appointment, and not by elec- 



358 Kansas. 

tion of the voters of the district, etc., to sa;- nothing of the Draconian 
character of the enactments. 

The President says, "The constitutional means of relieving the people of 
unjust administrations and laws, by a change of public agents, and by re- 
peal, are ample." This is usually the case, and ought always to be so ; but 
the case of Kansas is an exception. The administration of Kansas has its 
head at Washington, and we have not so much as a vote in favor of its con- 
tinuanqe or removal ; while the repeal of any laws, under present arrange- 
ments, by the people, is out of the question, as the Legislature has disfran- 
chised a large majority of them. No man, in favor of a change or repeal 
of certain laws, can vote under our new order of things ; and, consequently, 
no peaceable way of establishing a government of the people is left but to 
form a state constitution, and ask for admission into the Union. This has 
been done ; but the President objects to our constitution, and calls the 
movement for a state government revolutionary, and intimates that the 
forces of the Union must, if necessary, be bi^ought against it, although he 
admits that it was not revolutionary for other territories to do precisely 
what we have done — as California, Michigan, and others. His reason is, 
that the constitution of Kansas was formed by a party, and not by the 
whole people. What are the facts ? A bill, calling for a convention for the 
formation of a state constitution, is said to have passed through one house 
of the Mission Legislature, and was defeated in the other only because they 
feared the result would be a free state. In July and August a paper was 
circulated for the signatures of all such persons as wei-e desirous of forming 
a state government, and between one and two thousand persons signed it. 
August 15th, a general mass meeting of citizens, irrespective of party, was 
held at Lawrence, pursuant to a public call, signed " Many Citizens," " to 
take into consideration the propriety of calling a Territorial Delegate Con- 
vention, preliminary to the formation of a state government, and other sub- 
jects of public interest." At this meeting all parties participated, and the 
following preamble and resolution were adopted, with but one dissenting 
voice, and that was an acknowledged disunion abolitionist, the only one of 
that party at the meeting. 

" Whereas the people of Kansas Territory have been, since its settlement, 
and now are, without any law-making power ; therefore, be it 

" Resolved, That we, the people of Kansas, in mass meeting assembled, 
irrespective of party distinctions, influenced by a common necessity, and 
greatly desirous of promoting the common good, do hereby call t pon and 
request all bona fide citizens of Kansas Territory, of whatever \)olitical 
views or predilections, to counsel together in their respective elect'on dis- 
tricts, and in mass convention, or otherwise, elect three delegates f.-^r each 
representative to which such district is entitled, in the House of Represent- 
atives or the Legislative Assembly, by proclamation of Gov. Reeder, of date 
lOtli March, 1855-; said delegates to assemble in convention at the town of 



APPENDIX. 859 

Topeka, on the 19th da,y of September, 1855, then and there to cor lider 
and determine upon all subjects of public interest, and particularly upon 
that haying reference to the speedy formation of a state constitution, with 
an intention of an immediate application to be admitted as a state into the 
Union of the ' United States of America,' " 

This was the first public action taken by the people in their sovereign 
capacity upon this subject, and all parties and sects participated. 

The next action was at a party convention held at Big Springs on the 5th 
and 6th of September. A committee on state organization was appointed, 
and made the following report ; 

" Your committee, after considering the propriety of taking preliminary 
steps to framing a constitution, and applying for admission as a state into 
the Union, beg leave to report that, under the present circumstances, they 
deem the movement untimely and inexpedient." 

The following was offered as a substitute for the report : 

•' Resolved, That this convention, in view of its recent repudiation of the 
acts of the so-called Kansas Legislative Assembly, respond most heartily to 
the call made by the people's convention of the 15th ult., for a Delegate Con- 
vention of the people of Kansas Territory, to be held at Topeka on the 19th 
Inst., to consider the propriety of the formation of a state constitution, and 
such other matters as may legitimately come before it." This substitute 
was agreed to. 

Thus it appears that this party convention simply approved of the action 
of the citizens' convention at Lawrence, and let the matter rest. 

A Delegate Convention, irrespective of party, was held at Topeka, Sept. 
19th and 20th, agreeable to the call of the mass convention of the 15th of 
August, and the following preamble and resolution were unanimously 
adopted : 

*' Whereas the Constitution of the United States guarantees to the people 
of this republic the right of assembling together in a peaceable manner for 
their common good, to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide 
for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the bless- 
ings of liberty to themselves and their posterity ; and whereas the citizens 
of Kansas Territory were prevented from electing members of a Legislative 
Assembly, in pursuance of a proclamation of Gov. Reeder, on the thirtieth 
of March last, by invading forces from foreign states coming into the terri- 
tory, and forcing upon the people a Legislature of non-residents, and oth- 
ers, inimical to the interests of the people of Kansas Territory, defeating 
the object of the organic act, in consequence of which the territorial gov- 
ernment became a perfect failure, and the people were left without any legal 
government, until their patience has become exhausted, and endurance 
ceases to be a virtue ; and they are compelled to resort to the only remedy 
left — that of forming a government for themselves ; therefore, 

" Resolved, By the people of Kansas Territory, in Delegate Convention 



360 KANSAS. 

assembled, That an election shall be held in the several election precincts of 
this territory, on the second Tuesday of October next, under the regulations 
and restrictions hereinafter imposed, for members of a convention to form a 
constitution, adopt a bill of rights for the people of Kansas, and take all 
needful measures for organizing a state government, preparatory to the 
admission of Kansas into the Union as a state." 

At this convention a Territorial Executive Committee was appointed, and 
the committee, in accordance with the instructions of the convention, is- 
sued a proclamation, commencing as follows : 

*' TO THE LEGAL VOTERS OP KANSAS. 

" Whereas the territorial government, as now constituted for Kansas, 
has proved a failure — squatter sovereignty under its workings a miserable 
delusion — in proof of which it is only necessary to refer to our past his- 
tory, and our present deplorable condition ; — our ballot-boxes have been 
taken possession of by bands of armed men from foreign states, and our 
people forcibly driven therefrom ; persons attempted to be foistered upon 
us as menbers of a so-called Legislature, unacquainted with our wants, and 
hostile to our best interests, some of them never residents of our territory ; 
misnamed laws passed, and now attempted to be enforced by the aid of cit- 
izens of foreign states, of the most oppressive, tyrannical, and insulting 
character ; the right of sutfrage taken from us ; debarred from the privi- 
lege of a voice in the election of even the most insignificant oflScers ; the 
right of free speech stifled ; the muzzling of the press attempted ; — and 
whereas longer forbearance with such oppression has ceased to be a virtue ; 
and whereas the people of this country have heretofore exercised the right 
of changing their form of government when it became oppressive, and have, 
at all times, conceded this right to the people in this and all other govern- 
ments ; and whereas a territorial form of government is unknown to the 
constitution, and is the mere creature of necessity, awaiting the action of 
the people ; and whereas the debasing character of the slavery, which now 
involves us, impels us to action, and leaves us the only legal and peaceful 
alternative — the immediate establishment of a state government ; and 
whereas the organic act fails in pointing out the course to be adopted in an 
emergency like ours ; therefore, you are requested to meet at your several 
precincts in said territory hereinafter mentioned, on the second Tuesday of 
October next, it being the ninth day of said month, and then and there 
cast your ballots for members of a convention, to meet at Topeka on the 
fourth Tuesday of October next, to form a constitution, adopt a bill of 
rights for the people of Kansas, and take all needful measures for organiz- 
ing a state government preparatory to the admission of Kansas into the 
Union as a State." 

On the fourth Tuesday of October, the Constitutional Convention assem- 
bled at Topeka, and drafted a constitution, which was submitted to the pec- 



APPENDIX. 861 

pie on the fifteenth of December, and by them approYed, by a yery large 
majority — men of all parties voting. 

Such, in brief, is the history of the constitutional movement in Kansas ; 
and, if this is a party movement, it is difficult to see in what way a consti- 
tution can be framed and adopted not open to this charge. If the people or 
any other portion of them failed to participate, it was their own fault, and 
not the fault of those who were active. Democrats, Hards and Softs, Whigs, 
Hunkers and Liberals, Republicans, Pro-Slavery and iVnti-Slavery men of 
all shades participated in the formation of the state government, and if it 
be a party movement at all, it certainly cannot be a movement of one party 
alone. In a republican government, the majority has no power to compel 
the minority to vote on any question ; neither has the minority a right to 
object to the action of the majority, because they did not choose to act with 
them. 

The President says : " No principle of public law, no practice or pre- 
cedent under the constitution of the United States, no rule of reason, right 
or common sense, confers any such power as that now claimed by a mere 
party in the territory. In fact, what has been done is of a revolutionary 
character. It will become treasonable insurrection if it reach the length of 
organized resistance by force to the fundamental or any other federal law, 
and to the authority of the general government." 

*' No principle of public law " ? What is the principle of squatter sover- 
eignty, then? "No precedent"? What did Michigan, California, and 
other new states do ? "No rule of reason, right, or common sense " ? Is 
popular sovereignty unreasonable, unjust and nonsensical? Suppose the 
party comprise an overwhelming majority of the people, what then ? 

James Christian, Esq., a very honorable and high-minded pro-slavery 
gentleman, writes to a friend in Kentucky as follows : " I believe I informed 
you before that I have been appointed clerk of this (Douglas) county, under 
the territorial Legislature ; but we are in such a horrible state of confusion in 
regard to the laws that it don't pay anything. The free-soilers are in a 
large majority in the territory, and they are determined to pay no regard 
to the laws ; consequently they will not sue nor have any recording done, 
so my office is only in name. It is the same all over the territory." 

According to the President, this "large majority " can have no rights, 
because they happen to think alike on a certain subject, or belong to the 
same "party." It was formerly a principle of democracy that the ma- 
jority — especially "large majorities" — should rule; but times must 
have changed. 

If this " large majority " persist in setting in motion a state government, 
it will be " treasonable." It was not so, however, in Michigan, California, 
and other states. But the people of Kansas do not propose to reach the 
point of "organized resistance by force to the fundamental or any other 
federal law, and to the authority of the general goverment," unless our 
31 



362 KANSAS. 

state, *' Tfliose constitution clearly embraces a republican form of govern 
ment, is excluded from the Union because its domestic institutions may not 
in all respects, comport with the ideas of what is wise and expedient, enter- 
tained in another state." 

If our state "be absolutely excluded from admission therein, that fact 
of itself (may) constitute the disruption of union between it and the other 
states. But the process of dissolution could not stop there," and we should 
have the chief executive on our side in such an event. But no such re- 
sult is to be anticipated. When the President fully understands our, case, 
he can do no less than withdraw his recommendation for an enablmg act to 
form another constitution, and Congress will admit us without delay. 

Also we have confidence that no attempt will be made by the federal au- 
thorities to enforce the enactments of a foreign Legislature upon the people 
of Kansas. Mr. Christian, the pro-slavery clerk of Douglas County, says, 
the people of Missouri came into the territory on the thirtieth of March last, 
" bearing with them their peculiar institutions — bowie-knives, pistols and 
whiskey — to the amount of five or six thousand, carried the election by 
storm, and elected every pro-slavery candidate that was in the field, by 
overwhelming majorities, thus securing every member of Council and House 
of Representatives, in some instances driving from their seats the judges 
appointed by the governor, and placing judges from their own number in 
their stead, who paid no regard to the instructions of the executive," etc. 

It cannot be that the President, after permitting the people of another 
state to take from the legal voters their constitutional and organic rights, 
wiU add to the outrage by compelling the people of Kansas to submit to 
their authority and obey their enactments. It is bad enough to be deprived 
of the right to make laws for ourselves, but it is worse to be compelled to 
submit to the laws of those who deprived us of that right. Although there 
has been and there will be no organized resistance to the self-styled territo- 
rial Legislature, yet nine men out of every ten spurn it with contempt as a 
gross outrage upon American citizens, and it is highly proper for the Gene- 
ral Assembly to memorialize Congress upon this subject, as with reference 
to the admission of the state into the Union. 

The President apologizes for the frequent invasions of Kansas, on the 
ground that some northern people talked about the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise, and subjects connected with the extension of negro bondage, 
and because an emigrant aid association had been formed. 

The people of this country have been in the habit of talking about the 
affairs of government ever since the Slayflower discharged her cargo on 
Plymouth Bock, but this is the first time that it has been considered an 
apology for the invasion of a distant state or territory. If the people of 
Kansas were accountable for the loquacity of the North or the silence of 
the South, the case might be different. 

Emigrant aid associations are nothing nev in the United States When 



APPENDIX. 363 

California was first opened to settlement the same kind of associations were 
formed, with only this difference : in one case, each party had an agent of 
its own for the purpose of procuring tickets, arranging details, &c. ; while, 
in the other, all the parties have a common agent. There is, however, con- 
nected with the aid society for Kansas emigrants, a stock company, for the 
purpose of erecting mills, hotels, etc., in the new country ; but the agent of 
this society will purchase tickets for a slave-holder as soon as for a free-state 
man, and the investments are for the benefit of all settlers alike. No ques- 
tions are asked, and no distinctions are made. 

Had the President visited Western Missouri before any aid society had 
been formed at the East, he might have found a secret, oath-bound associa- 
tion, pledged to make Kansas a slave state, peaceably if they could, for- 
cibly if they must. This society has been in active operation since its incep- 
tion, and now threatens to deluge Kansas with the blood of American cit- 
izens, for the crime of preferring a free to a slave state. 

Also, it is only necessary to read a few southern journals to see accounts 
in different parts of the South, not of emigrant aid societies, but of Emi- 
grant buying or hiring societies, which do not simply procure tickets for 
the emigrants, at cost, irrespective of party or condition, but which pay the 
fare and expenses of the right kind of emigrants, and support them in 
Kansas one year, more or less. However it may be, the " king can do no 
wrorig," although it may be wrong for the common people to do as the king 
does. 

The people of Kansas will not object to aid societies, whether North or 
South, so long as they treat all parties alike. Emigrants from all parts of 
the country are received with a hearty welcome, and the investment of 
capital, whether eastern or western, northern or southern, is greatly 
needed. 

The settlers of Kansas have suffered severe losses and injury from re- 
peated invasions from a neighboring state, and it is highly proper that Con- 
gress be memorialized upon this subject. Especially should the general gov- 
ernment repair the injury it has inflicted. All the invasions have been per- 
mitted by the officers of the government, without any opposition, while at 
least one was invited by them. It is the duty of the federal government to 
protect infant territories in their rights ; but Kansas has not only not been 
protected, but it has been actually oppressed by those whose duty it was to 
defend it. 

It is unjust to any community to send among them officers, with govern- 
ment patronage, whose political sentiments are opposed to the sentiments of 
the people, particularly when those officers mount the stump and shoulder 
the rifle for the purpose of crushing out all who difier from them. Some of 
the federal officers of Kansas are charged with undignified conduct, and one 
of them, at least, with high crimes ; and it is the duty of the Legislature to 
memorialize the President, that our citizens may be protected in their lives 



864 KANSAS. 

and inalienable rights, and from unwarrantable interference of ofiScials in 
the management of their internal affairs. It is manifestly improper for 
the federal officers to dictate into, or out of Kansas, an institution over 
■which Congress professes to have no authority. 

It is understood that the deputy marshal has private instructions to arrest 
the members of the Legislature, and the state officers, for treason, as soon 
as this address is received by you. In such an event, of course, no resist- 
ance will be offered to the officer. Men who are ready to defend their own 
and their country's honor with their lives, can never object to a legal inves- 
tigation into their actions, nor to suffer any punishment their conduct may 
merit. We should be unworthy the constituency we represent, did we shrink 
even from martyrdom on the scaffold, or at the stake, should duty require 
it. Should the blood of Collins and Dow, of Barber and Brown, be insuffi- 
cient to quench the thirst of the President and his accomplices, in the hol- 
low mockery of " squatter sovereignty " they are practising upon the people 
of Kansas, then more victims must be furnished. Let what will come, not 
a finger should be raised against the federal authority, until there shall be 
no hope of relief but in revolution. 

The task imposed upon us is a difficult one ; but with mutual cooperation, 
and a firm reliance on His wisdom who makes " the wrath of man praise 
him," we may hope to inaugurate a government that shall not be unworthy 
of the country and the age in which we live. 

C. ROBmSO^ 

ToPEKA, March 4th, 1856. 



APPENDIX. 365 



CHAEGE OF THE BORDER-HUFFIAN BRIGADE. 

From the New York Evening Post. 

"Our forces amounted to ez^ft/ hundred strong. * * * When we first 
reached Lawrence not a human being could be seen. In about an hour 
there gathered, in the streets, in front of the hotel, some hundred and fifty 
men. * * * When the]/ agreed to surrender, our men were marched down 
in front of the town, and one cannon planted on their own battlements. 
Cannon were brought in front of the house, and directed their destructive 
blows upon the walls ; the building caught on fire, and soon its walls came 
with a crash to the ground. Thus fell the abolition fortress ! " — Lecompton 
(border ruffian) Union ^ the editor of which was one of the gallant eight 
hundred. 

I. 
Half a league, half a league, 

Half a league onward. 
All to the fated town. 

Rode the Eight Hundred. 
" Charge ! " was the captain's cry ; 
No foeman's bayonet nigh, 
No gun to make reply — 
" Charge ! " was the gallant cry 
And into the fated town 

Rode the Eight Hundred ! 

II. 
No cannon to right of them. 
No cannon to left of them, 
No cannon in front of them, 

Volleyed and thundered ! 
Stormed at by shot nor shell. 
Boldly they rode and well. 
Cowed by no fear of death, 
Cowed by no fear of hell, 

Rode the Eight Hundred ! 

III. 

Flashed all their sabres bare. 
Flashed all their guns in air, 
The gallant Southrons there. 
Charging like fury, while 

All the world wondered I 
Seeing no battery smoke. 
Their southern courage woke, 
31* 



366 KANSAS. 



Then rapid was their stroke. 
And through the lines they broke. 

And Lawrence plundered ; 
Then the ruffians scampered back. 

All the Eight Hundred ! 

IV. 

No cannon to right of them, 
No cannon to left of them. 
No cannon behind them 

Volleyed and thundered ! 
Stormed at by shot nor shell, 
They, that had robbed so well 
Kan, their exploits to tell. 
Back to their dens again. 
Back to their border-hell. 
The whole black horde of them, 

All the Eight Hundred ! 

V. 

Honor the brave and bold ! 
Long shall the tale be told. 
Yea, when our babes are old. 

How bravely they plundered ! 



Pennyson. 



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*' We have examined with some care this collection of hymns, and consider it 
well adapted to be used in our district and other schools, from the variety of the 
hymns, from their religious character, and their freedom from sectarianism. 

"N. TILLINGHAST, Principal of State Normal School, Bridgewater. 

" D. S. ROWE, Principal of State Normal School, Westfield. 

" EBEN S. STEARNS, Principal of State Normal School, West Newton." 

" No compilation of hymns speaks more for the poetic taste of the compiler 
than this. It abounds in hymns which are expressive of the warm and grateful 
emotions of the heart, numbering many of the purest poetic utterances in our 
language. . . . Teachers will find this all that they can desii-e." — Massachusetts 
Teacher. 

THE SCHOOL EXHIBITION BOOK, 

CONTAININQ 

DIALOGUES, RECITATIONS, SONGS, DUETS, AND LITTLE DRAMAS, 
For the School-room. 12mo. Price 30 cents. 

THE AMERICAN SCHOOL HYMN-BOOK. 

Sixtieth Thousand. 32mo. Price 20 cents. 

THE SCHOOL JOURNAL. 

DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF SCHOLARS. 

In which may be written down, at the close of each day, a record of the most 

interesting events. 4to. Price 20 cents. 

TREATISE ON ENGLISH PUNCTUATION, 

Designed for Letter Writers, Authors, Printers, and Correctors of the Press; and 

for the use of Schools and Academies. With an Appendix, containing 

Rules on the Use of Capitals, a List of Abbreviations, Hints on 

Preparing Copy and on Proof-reading, Specimen of 

Proof-sheet, etc. By John Wilson. 

ICmo. Price $1. 



CROSBY, NICHOLS & CO., 

BOOKSELLERS, PUBLISHERS, 

AND 

NO. m WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON. 



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KLilBERS OF NEARLY HM PAGES EACH, AT FIVE DOLLARS A YEAR. 

The North American PtETiEW has now attained its ITOth number, or 82nd 
volume, having been published without intermission for more than forty years. 
It is far the oldest American periodical devoted to general literature and sci- 
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Among its editors and contributors are found most of our eminent men of 
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THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER, AND RELIGIOUS 
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